Also: FAA Selects Eight Pilot Projects, Cargo-Drone Pilot Test, Counter-Drone System, ICE NOTAM Creates Uncertainty Vertical Aviation International (VAI) welcomed the global vertical aviation community to VERTICON 2026 at the Georgia World Congress Center, where the event delivered 280,000 square feet of exhibit space, 684 exhibitors, and 64 aircraft on display. The event drew 12,852 attendees and featured a show floor built for hands-on engagement, including a dedicated drone cage for indoor demonstrations. Joby Aviation has completed a series of demonstration flights in the San Francisco Bay area to demonstrate how it is developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service. The company wanted to illustrate air-taxi readiness in a region defined by traffic congestion, showing that the future of quiet, emissions-free flight is not just a concept, but nearing commercial readiness. With an operational foundation built on thousands of test flights and more than 50,000 miles logged across its fleet, the company is now ready to scale its presence across the United States. US Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) sent a letter to the FAA and others demanding they immediately address the interagency coordination failures that led to major incidents last month involving counter-drone high-energy laser systems near El Paso and Fort Hancock, Texas, and Santa Teresa, N.M. “The Federal interagency coordination process for counter-drone activities is clearly broken,” wrote Sen. Cantwell. All this — and MORE in today’s episode of Airborne-NextGen!!!