2023 Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting and Electric VTOL Symposium

Don't miss your chance to be a part of the 10th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting & 10th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium, sponsored by the VFS Arizona Chapter and taking place Jan. 24-26, 2023, in Mesa, Arizona — and online! 

Registration & Meeting Facts

• In-person attendance is CLOSED (as of Jan. 17) due to venue capacity limits. The meeting is a hybrid event, with unlimited virtual attendance available.
• Download the Meeting Agenda (pdf).
• Attendees have access to ALL sessions and presentations offered from Tues. Jan. 24 through Thurs. Jan. 26 beginning with the Plenary Session on Tuesday, the Autonomous technical sessions or eVTOL presentations (Wed.-Thurs), including invited speaker presentations.
• All speakers must present in-person.
• There is NO in-person onsite registration available.
• The attire is business casual for in-person attendance.
• Virtual attendees will receive an email with the conference information prior to the meeting.
• The meeting takes place in US Mountain Standard Time (GMT-7 hours) time zone – refer to Time & Date.
• All presentations will be recorded. By attending this event, you give consent that your image can be captured on video or in photographs. 
• ALL attendees will receive links to the online Proceedings and recorded presentations AFTER the meeting.
• Details on the Short Course and the AAM Showcase tour of Honeywell Aeropace are provided below. 

Program/Agenda Information

The meeting will feature opening keynote addresses by leaders in autonomy and electric VTOL:

• Lirio Liu, Executive Director, FAA Aircraft Certification Service (AIR-1)
• Dr. Michael B. Leahy, Jr., Director of the DARPA Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
• Dr. Parimal "PK" Kopardekar, Director of the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI)
• LTC Olin Walters, US Army, Product Manager for Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS), PEO Aviation
• Lisa Peterson, Market Development, AURA Network Systems
• Ramy Mourad, Director of UAM Engineering, Boeing
• Stéphane Fymat, VP/GM of UAM/UAS, Honeywell 
• Adam Goldstein, CEO, Archer Aviation
• Eric Allison, Head of Product, Joby Aviation
• Dr. Valerie Manning, Chief Commercial Officer, Overair
• Rob Scholl, President & CEO, Textron eAviation
• Leon Villegas, VP of Production Systems, Wisk Aero
• Ben Ivers, Director, Autonomous Systems, Boeing Global Safety/Regulatory Affairs
• Lyle Chamberlain, CTO, Near Earth Autonomy
• Dr. Joerg Mueller, Head of Urban Air Mobility, Airbus
• Jasmine Kent, CTO, Dufour Aerospace

The Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting includes 20+ technical papers, plus an additional half-dozen invited VIP speakers from industry and academia.

The eVTOL Symposium features 60+ invited VIP speakers. Confirmed speakers include executives from Archer, AutoFlight, Dufour, Elroy Air, HYSKY, Jaunt, Joby, LIFT Aircraft, Opener, Piasecki, Rotor X, SkyDrive, Talyn Air, as well as additional leaders from the FAA, NASA, the Army AvMC, Air Force Agility Prime, and many suppliers!

Updated: Download the Meeting Agenda (pdf). Also available are the Schedule Overview (pdf) and eVTOL & Plenary Agenda (pdf).

10th Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting: Final papers are due Jan. 16, 2023 and authors should use the paper template provided to them. No paper will be scheduled for presentation if a written paper has not been received by the deadline and it is the author’s responsibility to obtain all necessary clearances and releases. Read the Call for Papers for details.

Autonomous VTOL sessions:

• Invited Sessions: Titans of Autonomy
• Paper Session 1: Guidance, Navigation & Control
• Paper Session 2: Modeling and Simulation
• Paper Session 3: Configuration Design
• Paper Session 4: Operations

Technical Chair: Bryan Chu, The Boeing Co.

10th Annual Electric VTOL Annual Symposium: Held in parallel with the Automous VTOL Technical meeting, the eVTOL Symposium will feature invited presentations, panel sessions and discussions by leaders in this exciting field. This event is an excellent opportunity to learn about and discuss the latest advancements in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and the challenges that still remain. Invited presentations from all areas of eVTOL will be discussed, from researchers and leaders in academia, industry and government agencies from around the globe, and cover all-electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion systems.

This is a unique opportunity for designers, developers, innovators, investors, regulators, infrastructure providers, end users, media and key influencers to share knowledge and work towards realizing The eVTOL Revolution. This is also a tremendous networking opportunity for those new to the VTOL industry. 

The Vertical Flight Society has been leading efforts in eVTOL since 2013, with nearly a decade of eVTOL Symposiums, the Electric VTOL News website — featuring the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory — and the fortnightly eVTOL Newsletter. 

Short Course

The Short Course in eVTOL Design will be held at the hotel on Monday, Jan. 23. Taught by Dr. James Wang, this annual 1-day short course is always a big hit and fills up quickly!

Honeywell Tour

In addition, a special Flight Ops Showcase tour of Honeywell Aerospace's Flight Test Operations will be given at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) on the morning of Friday, Jan. 27. The event will showcase Honeywell's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technologies and include tours of the company's flight test aircraft.

Registration is closed; registrants should check their email for travel info and instructions to get through security.

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Registration: registration rates listed below. If you are unable to register online, please submit the completed registration form (PDF) to VFS HQ.

VFS Member Regular Attendee	$750 (before 12/15/2022) / $850 (after 12/15/2022)
VFS Member Speaker/Gov't./Military/Virtual	$600 (before 12/15/2022) / $700 (after 12/15/2022)
Non-Member Regular Attendee	$950 (includes 1-year VFS membership)
Non-Member Speaker/Gov't./Military/Virtual	$800 (includes 1-year VFS membership)
Student/Retired: must be a VFS Member	$325 (before 12/15/2022) / $375 (after 12/15/2022)

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Updated Feb. 14, 2023