Hanneke Weitering is a writer and editor with AIN covering advanced air mobility and new flight technologies. She became an aviation journalist and joined the AIN team in the summer of 2022 after reporting on spaceflight and astronomy for six years at Space.com. After earning a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she moved to New York City to pursue a master’s degree in science, health, and environmental reporting at New York University&#039;s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She is now based in Seattle near Boeing Field and spends her free time exploring nature in the Pacific Northwest.

Science & Technology Editor

Hanneke Weitering

The U.S. Department of Transportation has broken ground on a dedicated research range for advanced air mobility aircraft at the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2024-06-03/oklahoma-city-national-airspace-systems-treasure">Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center</a> (MMAC) in Oklahoma City, home of the FAA’s main training, research, and certification campus.
Known as the Vertical Procedures and Analysis Range (V-PAR), the new development is intended to give the FAA and its partners a safe place to study how vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft operate—especially emerging electric and hybrid-electric designs—to help inform future operating procedures and standards.
“The V-PAR is a critical step in helping the FAA better understand how to integrate advanced air mobility aircraft safely into the National Airspace System,” said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Steven Bradbury. “This facility will strengthen our ability to conduct research, train people, and support the future of aviation.”
FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau said the range will help the agency gather the data and operational insights needed to support safe integration. “As advanced air mobility technologies continue to evolve, the FAA must ensure they meet the same high safety standards expected throughout the National Airspace System,” he said.
The roughly $8.3 million facility will sit on the west side of the MMAC campus, next to Will Rogers World Airport (KOKC). According to the FAA, the facility “brings together operational infrastructure, regulatory personnel, human factors laboratories, procedure experts, and simulation capabilities in one location.” Its initial buildout includes a touchdown-and-liftoff area, a taxiway, an aircraft apron with two parking spaces, a covered shelter, an observation and operations building, and chargers for electric aircraft.
<figure role="group" class="caption caption-img">
<img alt="V-PAR digital render" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="743d21c8-665c-40ca-88ab-4a6618cedd4f" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/MMAC_VPAR_Fact_Sheet.jpeg" width="1544" height="746" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>A digital rendering from the FAA’s V-PAR fact sheet shows the facility’s planned initial buildout.&nbsp;</figcaption>
</figure>

Planned research and training activities at V-PAR cover vertiport operations, arrival and departure routes, wake turbulence, downwash and outwash, radiofrequency interference, airspace procedures, and emergency planning, according to the FAA’s V-PAR <a href="https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/fact_sheets/MMAC_VPAR_Fact_Sheet.pdf">fact sheet</a>.
Concept studies began in fall 2021, and Congress appropriated an initial $6 million toward the project in 2024. The FAA awarded the design contract that summer to C.H. Guernsey, an Oklahoma City engineering and architecture firm, with vertiport expertise from Heliplanners, based in Temecula, California. Maguire O’Hara Construction, also of Oklahoma City, won the construction contract in March 2026, and the agency aims to complete the work by mid-2027. Future phases could add more landing sites, a second vertipad, expanded charging, and a short-takeoff-and-landing runway.

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