Wichita Eagle

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says Wichita could be the Detroit of urban air mobility, mass-producing small, unpiloted aircraft equipped to fly people and cargo across cities.

Speaking Monday morning at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Bridenstine said developing such crafts is a top aeronautics priority for the U.S.

“What are the breakthrough technologies that are going to transform the way that people in the United States of America move around cities?” Bridenstine asked.

“The idea that you could get in a vehicle on one side of town and that vehicle would elevate you to another side of town and drop you off — urban air mobility."

Such capabilities would also allow companies like Amazon and FedEx to expedite the delivery of packages, Bridenstine said.

He said Wichita is uniquely positioned to develop the carbon composites and other new materials needed to mass-produce such electric aircraft within 15 to 25 years.

“It just so happens that here at NIAR (the National Institute for Aviation Research) at Wichita State University, with partnership with industry and partnership with the U.S. government, there is a cluster of technological capability right here that is going to enable that mass production,” Bridenstine said.

“Wichita could very well be the Detroit of urban air mobility.”

He went on to clarify that he means the Detroit of “maybe 20 years ago.”

Speaking after Bridenstine’s address, NIAR Executive Director John Tomblin said Wichita should embrace the prospect of becoming the manufacturing hub for such crafts.

“Think of the equivalent of the car industry — having that in Wichita and being able to employ that amount of people to build those structures is key,” Tomblin said. “If it ever takes off, we want to be the place that people think about.

Sen. Jerry Moran, who invited Bridenstine to the event, recently co-sponsored the bipartisan Aeronautics Innovation Act, which aims to help boost research and development in the aeronautics industry.

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