JobsOhio names new leader of Advanced Air Mobility Center in Springfield

Owen Flannery, an employee with the City of Springfield, cleans the electric vertical take off and landing aircraft that hangs in the lobby of the new National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Owen Flannery, an employee with the City of Springfield, cleans the electric vertical take off and landing aircraft that hangs in the lobby of the new National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

The National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence in Springfield has a new executive director.

Ted Angel is the center’s executive director, JobsOhio said Friday.

The center, which the state says is the nation’s only facility of its kind, is a haven for manufacturers and operators of advanced air mobility vehicles, including electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, sometimes called “flying taxis.”

Fueled by a $6 million Department of Defense community infrastructure grant and a nearly $3 million JobsOhio grant, the center has been a home to military and civilian research for these new flying vehicles.

The center, also called “NAAMCE,” is adjacent to the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport terminal.

The center’s building is a two-story, 30,000-square-foot set of offices and a hangar that house administrative, laboratory, meeting, and collaboration spaces, for the Air Force and private industry.

“The world of AAM (advanced air mobility) holds enormous promise in terms of economic opportunity and how people live their lives now and in the near future, and Ohio is primed to lead the way,” Angel said in a statement. “I am looking forward to helping Ohio chart the course for AAM and all the opportunities this rapidly expanding sector holds.”

Ted Angel is the executive director of the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence in Springfield. Dayton Development Coalition photo.

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Angel is a veteran of the Dayton Development Coalition, having served as the director of projects and business development for aerospace and defense for the coalition, which works with JobsOhio in the Dayton area.

“Ohio is establishing an entirely new end-to-end supply chain for the advanced air mobility industry, and we are at the forefront of integrating AAM aircraft into the national airspace system,” said JobsOhio President and Chief Executive J.P. Nauseef.

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