Florida Polytechnic University’s police department owns a single-seat electric aircraft with eight motors, a police light set and a nickname, Astro. According to its manufacturer, it arrived at the Lakeland campus earlier this summer. It has not flown a police mission, because the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t approved it for one.
The university announced Astro on Oct. 20 in a press release that calls its department “the first law enforcement agency in the nation” to integrate an eVTOL into its operations, and says Florida Poly is “in the final stages of seeking approval” from the FAA. Jetson, the California company that builds the aircraft, posted its own announcement the same day under a bigger headline, “World’s First Electric Flying Police Patrol Vehicle.” Its first paragraph then credits that description to the university.
Neither release gives a price or a date for approval. The university’s doesn’t say what kind of approval it needs. Jetson’s does, in two phrases: the university “required Part91 approval,” and the Jetson ONE is “a PART103 recreational platform.” Those two sets of federal rules explain why Astro can’t go on patrol yet.
The ultralight rules
Part 103 is the FAA’s ultralight regulation, and it is why Jetson’s product page can say “No pilot’s license required in the United States.” An ultralight needs no airworthiness certificate, no registration and no pilot or medical certificate. In exchange, the rule sets hard limits: one occupant, less than 254 pounds empty for a powered vehicle, and no more than 55 knots at full power in level flight. Jetson software-limits the ONE to 102 km/h (63 mph). That is 55 knots…