FlyingCars.report

News · · 2 min read

FAA says New Mexico's first eIPP demonstration used a remotely piloted Cessna Caravan

The FAA said on October 19, 2026 that New Mexico conducted its first eIPP demonstration. The City of Albuquerque Aviation Department and Reliable Robotics flew a remotely piloted Cessna 208B Caravan on cargo tests at Albuquerque International Sunport. The FAA does not describe an eVTOL flight or a type certificate.

FAAeIPPNew Mexico

Row of white FedEx Cessna 208B Caravan cargo aircraft parked on an airport ramp under a blue sky
FedEx-operated Cessna 208B Caravans parked at the Albuquerque International Sunport, May 2017. These are not the aircraft used in the eIPP demonstration, only the same airport and aircraft type. Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The FAA said on October 19, 2026 that Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced New Mexico's first demonstration flight under the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The FAA says the project is led by the City of Albuquerque Aviation Department and that New Mexico is the sixth location to launch under the program, following North Carolina in late September.

The same release says that last week the City of Albuquerque Aviation Department and Reliable Robotics conducted demonstration flights at Albuquerque International Sunport to test cargo deliveries using Reliable's remotely piloted Cessna 208B Caravan. The aircraft the FAA names is a Cessna airplane. The release does not describe an eVTOL. It gives no calendar day for the flights beyond "last week" in a release dated October 19. eVTOL Insights, writing on October 21, reports the same operator, airport and remotely piloted Cessna 208B on cargo flights, and it dates the flights to October 19. The FAA release does not. This page does not treat October 19 as the flight day.

What the FAA says the flight was for

The FAA says the demonstrations tested cargo deliveries. It says the department and other eIPP participants are planning more test flights through the rest of the year. That is a plan. Manny Manriquez, the city's aviation director, is quoted saying Albuquerque is one of eight designees in the program, with a focus on autonomous aircraft operations. The release's additional note says that in March the department selected eight projects across 28 states, covering uses that include urban air taxis, regional passenger flights, cargo, emergency medical operations, autonomous flight and offshore transport. That list is the program's range of projects. It is not a description of what flew at the Sunport. The release says the FAA may use data from the pilot projects to develop regulations. It does not say a regulation was issued from this flight.

This site's October 8 report said, from an Aerospace America interview, that flights were planned next in New Mexico. The October 19 release says a New Mexico demonstration has been conducted. The earlier story is a separate report of what was then still planned.

What is not established

The FAA does not give the day of the flights. It does not say passengers were carried. It does not describe the Cessna flight as an eVTOL flight, a vertiport opening or a type certificate. A remotely piloted cargo demonstration is not scheduled passenger service. Further flights this year are described as planned.

Sources

Facts as reported by the linked sources as of Nov 11, 2026. Company targets are plans, not guarantees. Corrections: see About.