NASA funds aviation-safety group to plan drone and air-taxi airspace

Overview

Updated Aug 30

Delivery drones and passenger air taxis are coming, but no one has decided how they will share the sky with commercial jets. NASA just paid Flight Safety Foundation $549,782 to start writing that plan, obligating the funds August 5, 2026, for the agency's Sky for All concept of operations.

Flight Safety Foundation is an 80-year-old Alexandria nonprofit that brokers safety agreements across the aviation industry. Its task: turn a vague vision of a crowded sky into a concrete framework that airlines, drone operators, air-taxi makers, and regulators can all accept.

Why it matters

Air taxis and delivery drones can't share the sky safely without a plan — this grant funds the group writing it.

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Key Indicators

$549,782

NASA award to Flight Safety Foundation

Obligated under federal award 80NSSC26M0074 for Sky for All concept-of-operations support.

1,000+

FSF member organizations

Member organizations in 150 countries, per the foundation's own figures.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Dr. Hassan Shahidi

President and chief executive, Flight Safety Foundation

Leads the foundation's Sky for All stakeholder engagement work

Organizations Involved

Flight Safety Foundation

International nonprofit

NASA grant recipient for Sky for All planning

Independent, international nonprofit providing impartial safety guidance and resources for aviation and aerospace.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Federal space agency

Funder of Sky for All concept of operations

US space and aeronautics agency whose Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate funds advanced air mobility planning.

Timeline

1945 August 2026

3 events Latest: August 5th, 2026 · 3 months ago

August 2026
NASA awards FSF $549,782 for Sky for All
Latest Funding

Federal government obligates NASA funds to FSF for Sky for All concept-of-operations stakeholder engagement in Alexandria.
August 5th, 2026
2025
Foundation marks 80 years
Milestone

FSF celebrates eight decades and warns of rising risks in mixed-use airspace near busy airports.
2025
1945
Flight Safety Foundation founded
Founding

Jerome Lederer and colleagues organize FSF to promote impartial, industry-wide aviation safety.
1945

Scenarios

NASA publishes a finalized Sky for All concept of operations

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate; aviation industry analysts

FSF's stakeholder engagement feeds a formal NASA document defining how drones, air taxis, and commercial flights share airspace. Publication would give the FAA and industry a common baseline for rulemaking and investment in new aircraft.

Air-taxi and drone integration stalls without a national framework

Possible Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: Industry observers tracking eVTOL certification timelines

Air-taxi and drone operations stay limited to pilot sites and demonstration corridors. Without a national safety framework, the planning effort yields reports rather than rules, and commercial scale-up lags behind aircraft certification.

NASA awards Flight Safety Foundation follow-on funding

Uncertain Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Observers of federal grant records

The Sky for All planning succeeds well enough that NASA continues funding FSF as the standing convener for future airspace safety, expanding beyond the initial $549,782 scope with additional stakeholder and scenario work.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

June 2016

FAA Part 107 drone rules (2016)

The Federal Aviation Administration issued its first national rules for small commercial drones, capping weight at 55 pounds and requiring daytime, visual-line-of-sight operation. The rule arrived after years of ad hoc exemptions and growing industry pressure.

Then

Drone operators gained a single regulatory framework, and the commercial industry grew rapidly under it.

Now

Part 107 became the baseline for every later drone integration step, including beyond-visual-line-of-sight waivers.

Why this matters now

Sky for All faces the same task for larger, autonomous vehicles, but with passenger-carrying operations and technology the FAA has not yet certified.

2003–present

NextGen airspace modernization (2003–present)

The FAA launched a multi-decade program to shift air traffic control from ground-based radar to satellite navigation, guided by industry advisory groups and concept-of-operations documents refined over years.

Then

Early segments delivered fuel savings, but many major components slipped on cost and schedule.

Now

NextGen showed that transforming national airspace is a decades-long coordination problem, not a technical one.

Why this matters now

Sky for All's planning-layer approach mirrors NextGen's stakeholder-heavy design, and inherits the same risk that ambitious timelines slip.