Nationwide FAA Data · Florida Case Study
Siting a vertiport is only half the problem: how those vertiports connect into a routing network is the other half, and it's the focus of my survey manuscript in preparation on AAM routing networks and vertiport operations. Below, FAA airport/heliport facility data (NASR, nationwide) and U.S. Census state boundaries drive an interactive, animated extension of that methodology: three ways Florida's AAM network could be structured, each computed as a minimum-spanning-tree corridor network over FAA facility coordinates.
AAM routing concepts map onto existing ICAO airspace classes, trading vehicle freedom for predictability as traffic density rises. This taxonomy, from the "Route-Network Design & Optimization" section of my survey, frames the network scenarios below.
Vehicles choose speed, altitude, and routing freely. Maximizes capacity in uncontrolled/low-density airspace but demands onboard detect-and-avoid.
ICAO Class GAltitude-layered digital services provide advisories and equipage-based access, a bridge layer for scaling beyond very-low-level operations.
ICAO Class EPredefined, possibly time-varying routes with performance-based spacing. Best for air-metro-style operations and high-density hubs.
ICAO Class C/DStructured, ATC-coordinated lanes tied directly to airport/vertiport access. Lowest equipage requirement, lowest throughput ceiling.
ICAO Class B/D4,541 public-use, operational airports and heliports across the contiguous United States (FAA NASR data), plotted from their published coordinates. Alaska, Hawaii, and the territories are not yet included. Florida, the case-study region below, is highlighted.
Each dot is a currently-operational public-use FAA facility · cyan = airport · amber = heliport
Real-world vertiport networks can build on existing air facilities, stand up independently, or combine both. Switch scenarios below: nodes and minimum-spanning-tree corridors are computed live from Florida airport coordinates and city locations.
My dissertation, "Noise-Optimized Routes for Air Taxi," found that shifting AAM corridors away from noise-sensitive receptors (schools, hospitals, dense residential areas) cuts community noise exposure by roughly 3.9–6 dB across a 20-route network, at the cost of a modest distance penalty. Drag the slider below to feel that trade-off yourself, on the real noise-sensitive buffer zones around Daytona Beach International Airport (KDAB) used in that research.
Illustrative model: the route curve and its real arc-length distance are computed live from actual KDAB and Daytona Beach coordinates and the real GIS-derived buffer polygons shown on the map. The dB reduction readout is scaled to the dissertation's reported 3.9–6 dB achievable range, not a live acoustic simulation.