Abstract:Urban air mobility (UAM) relies on electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to enable swift, flexible, emissions-free regional transportation, effectively addressing urban traffic congestion challenges. Concurrently, the compact urban population centers and the advanced automation of eVTOL craft introduce a host of intricacies to ensure flight safety. In alignment with the overarching safety objectives mandated by the regulatory authority for eVTOL, this paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the constraints and efficacy of safety mitigation strategies at the aircraft level—specifically, crashworthiness and the deployment of ballistic rescue system (BSR) in the event of severe malfunctions. Through meticulous comparative analysis of these mitigation measures, it presents an optimized eVTOL flight profile that accounts for their impact, delineating the influence of aircraft-level safety across various flight phases. Furthermore, it derives a quantifiable critical altitude threshold for the eVTOL flight profile. In light of the high-risk zones within the flight profile, this paper proffers preemptive measures aimed at reducing the likelihood of critical failures, thus furnishing insights and directions for the safety design and airworthiness management of eVTOL.