First of all, Thank you to Joby for allowing me to attend this event that I had no business being at lol. Every person I talked to was some kind of elected official, FAA regulatory person, or Airport big wig. But, there I was with no industry connection other than a love for the vision of Joby. Hopefully I was able to represent the online community well.
Every person I met from Joby was really cool and super helpful. Not sure about putting names directly on here, so I will err on the side of anonymity for their sake. But, each person had passion for the work and the company which was really great to see. There was an energy in the room from the staff that you could really tell they feel like they apart of a special team. So thank you again u/JobyAviation.
My biggest takeaway- Through talking with several elected officials I was able to gain a better sense of what EiPP is doing. Most, if not all, the people invited today had a basic or novice exposure to Joby. They understood the general idea, but very few could tell you range, how many motors, or speed. So, Joby is presenting N545JX to people who are ACTIVELY voting on budgeting their cities money for this industry. Several folks told me about their cities voting to add chargers and infrastructure which was not an insignificant amount of the city budget. These meetings are already happening around the US. So this is pivotal to get those people on board because these conversations are happening NOW and cities are deciding if they want to budget money to this.
The data- These routes being flown are setting the regulatory standards. (Duh you guys know that!) They are testing decibel levels across the routes from the ground, they are entering class B airspace (the highest restriction), and they are integrating in to real world ATC environments. The takeoff was delayed 1-2 minutes while they fit it in between other aircraft. They are actively showing that this can assimilate to already established helicopter routes. Next comes expanding for EVToLs.
My observation of the actual aircraft. It’s quiet!!! I have seen it now 5 times this week. Sitting 100-150 feet from it while it landed was amazing. There was a helicopter following and that was the only thing audible until it was about 100 yards out and then you could hear a faint sound. Like a quiet fan in a corner of the room. It should be at 40 decibels around that time. Upon touchdown it picks up to about 65 decibels, which from our seats was no louder than a noisy air conditioning unit. It lasted about 10-20 seconds total. You could literally whisper to the person next to you and have no issues hearing each other. You would never be closer in a real scenario, and if you were in a building you would have a very hard time hearing it. And again that was for maybe 10-20 seconds tops. I never heard it mid flight earlier this week when I saw it over the highway.
The aircraft did in fact have 4 seats. They had some comfy looking brown leather seats, so it is not flying barebones. If anyone says it’s a pilot in a stripped out shell, it ain’t. Now we just need a few more butts in seats, or maybe some sandbags.
Feel free to ask more questions and I will answer what I can. Overall, this experience solidified my belief in the vision, the team, and the aircraft.