How Should eVTOLs Safely Access Airports?

To safely integrate electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft into airport terminal areas, this talk explores the fundamental challenges of enabling safe airport access for eVTOL operations in the presence of conventional civil aircraft. To provide a systematic perspective for evaluating safety constraints in future airport-integrated eVTOL operations, an integrated safety assessment framework is developed by jointly considering TCAS alert probability, probabilistic collision risk, and wake vortex encounter hazards. The talk will also conclude with an interactive discussion of forward-looking research issues, inviting questions, insights, and collaboration from the audience.

Prof. Kin Huat Low is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Civil Aviation University of China (CAUC) and serves as Chief Scientist of its Research Institute for Aerospace Integration and Safe Operations. He received his BSc from National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan) and his MSc and PhD from the University of Waterloo, Canada. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Waterloo, he joined Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, where he remained until 2023.

Throughout his 36‑year‑plus career, his research has progressed through several distinct phases: flexible robotics and structural dynamics; bio‑inspired robotics, exoskeletons, rehabilitation robotics, and unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM); and, most recently, low‑altitude economy (LAE). He is an Honorary Member of the Global UTM Association (GUTMA) in Switzerland and an Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Aerospace Engineers (SIAE). He has served on a working group of the ICAO Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Panel (RPASP) and has acted as a consultant for various organizations.

Prof. Low has authored or co‑authored over 430 research papers and has held Associate Editor roles for more than 15 journals. From 2019 to 2025, he has been recognized annually as one of the world's top 2% of scientists (Stanford University annual list).