EASA is engaged into developing noise requirements for drones (or Unmanned Aircraft Systems – UAS) and air taxis (or Vertical Take-Off and Landing Capable Aircraft – VCA).
Dones (UAS) belonging to the ‘open’ categories C1, C2 and C3 must already meet noise requirements covered by the ISO 3744 standard, while UAS of the ‘certified’ category undergo a typical certification program with EASA. For products in the intermediate ‘specific’ category, EASA has published guidelines to measure the noise levels of UAS below 600 kg. These guidelines contain procedures to measure noise in level-flight and hover conditions, and were designed to assist national, regional, and municipal authorities in authorizing local UAS operations. UAS noise data collected according to these guidelines can be submitted to EASA (noise [at] easa.europa.eu (noise[at]easa[dot]europa[dot]eu)) and will be published on the EASA Innovative Air Mobility Hub.
Regarding air taxis (VCA), EASA has published two Environmental Protection Technical Specifications (EPTS), one for VCA with non-tilting rotors and one for VCA with tilting rotors which can be utilised during the certification of such products. Since these EPTS are not mandatory, EASA has initiated a rulemaking task to incorporate them into noise requirements and issued an NPA in 2025. In parallel, EASA is supporting the development of equivalent international noise requirements at ICAO level.