Two electric aircraft flew over Tampa Bay on Friday in the first of a planned series of state-run demonstration flights, and the Florida Department of Transportation says later flights will follow the Interstate 4 corridor that runs through Central Florida.
According to Gov. Ron DeSantis' office, the pair left St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport, flew side by side across the bay and touched down at Tampa International Airport, at the Signature Aviation facility. The path copied Tony Jannus' 1914 St. Petersburg-to-Tampa trip, which the state calls the first commercial airline flight anywhere.
"This morning, history was made in Tampa Bay with Florida's first Advanced Air Mobility electric aircraft demonstration flights," DeSantis said in a statement.
What the flights are for
The flights belong to what the state calls its "Future of Flight Series" and are being flown under a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program for bringing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, known as eVTOLs, into the airspace.
According to the governor's office, the point is to gather data on noise, airspace integration and other questions the FAA needs answered before it settles on regulations, ground facilities and procedures that would let the aircraft carry paying customers.
The demonstrations will also be among the first to use what FDOT calls its Aerial Highway Network, a set of designated air corridors linking major hubs. The series is set to follow I-4, which the state calls Florida's busiest corridor, to show how the aircraft might let travelers skip road congestion.
"The work we are doing today will revolutionize the way people and goods move around the state," FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue said.
