Future of short range commutes?

[Tervuren]

Forget driveable airplanes, just land where your going and forget the drive.



25 mile range, that would get me into Charlotte, where I could plug in, do my stuff, then come back.

I have no idea what the rules and regulations around this are, or will be.
25 mile range would be too short for a car, but able to take a direct route?
It'd work out fine for a lot people.
Around here a lot of the road system is spiral shaped, even if I did 25MPH flying, I'd get there a lot faster than 45MPH driving.

Automated would be great.

[asphaltgambler]

Would have to have good cup holders for my commute

[Seahawk]

There are a lot of companies working on this.

We have dome design work for these folks: Home - New | HopFlyt



I am not an aero engineer, but they have a term called, "the aero wheel of misfortune".

It is coming but it is going to take energy breakthroughs and, frankly, ducted fans and pilot-less aircraft.

Cool stuff, however.

[GH85Carrera]

And home owners insurance will go up for coverage from falling aircraft. The average driver is incapable of driving safely on a paved road with lines on the road. With flight there will be some real bad crashes. And every single company trying it will have their own proprietary computer system that does not work with the other civil aviation and or other "commuter aircraft" like those.

Maybe someday, when the battery packs have a energy density several orders of magnitude more than current.

[Tervuren]

A lot of them in the past; I've looked at what is going on and my mind has gone "Scam".
More money...more money...
And no free flying prototype...ever.

Was cool to see an actual set of flights in a public place like Airventure Oshkosh.

For the insurance issue, cars of today find their way into homes already.
I'm sure how that is taken care of could apply to this.
Personally I would love a push botton ride into Charlotte.
I would expect such a system to check in on weather data, and be a "no fly" if winds above "X".
In which case I'd either stay home, or take my land car.

One thing I haven't looked up is price.

[Mahler9th]

My business associates are in this "space" amongst others.

More is going on than folks realize.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/great-electric-airplane-race/

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/15/joby-aviation-raises-590-million-led-by-toyota-to-launch-an-electric-air-taxi-service/

I have met some of the players...

a huge percentage of the funded companies are in my network...

opportunities abound.

[Sooner or later]

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Mahler9th

My business associates are in this "space" amongst others.

More is going on than folks realize.

All true. The problem will remain exposed dynamic components.

We have done some design work for Toyota as well on a ducted fan motorcycle. Their lawyers thought a flying motorcycle was a bit premature.

The studies are very compelling - more so in the package delivery last 100 miles, using under utilized airports.

As a former pilot, I trust the electronics of unmanned flight way more than I trust a 450 hour conehead making $25k a year to get me to my car.

I can decide to get in or not.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

People can't even drive cars safely so anything other than autonomous is only going to add more opportunity for people to crash into stuff

[Zeke]

One thing you can say for a freeway or beltway is that everyone is going the same direction on the same plane a lot of the times between barriers. Take 2 factors, or even 1 of the first 2 out of the equation, and you have chaos. Sure, computer power will help, but....

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

People can't even drive cars safely so anything other than autonomous is only going to add more opportunity for people to crash into stuff

The video I posted was autonomous flight with a passenger.
Which for a commute situation, I'd look fowards to.

I guess the other part that caught my attention was the modest specs.
Not advertising 300MPH, 10,000 mile range, blah blah...

Originally Posted by Zeke

One thing you can say for a freeway or beltway is that everyone is going the same direction on the same plane a lot of the times between barriers. Take 2 factors, or even 1 of the first 2 out of the equation, and you have chaos. Sure, computer power will help, but....

I've seen video of someone going the wrong way in pattern at Oshkosh.

[carambola]

Take three Model S, AWD
Use the triple battery, eight motors for lift, four for articulation
Duct the lift so dumbasses can still be dumbasses

[flatbutt]

That sucker sure was loud.

[fanaudical]

I am not a fan of quad copter type craft for people. Planes can glide. Helicopters have autorotation. What happens to one of these following a serious failure?

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

I am not a fan of quad copter type craft for people. Planes can glide. Helicopters have autorotation. What happens to one of these following a serious failure?

Depends on serious.
A serious mast strike in some helicopters, auto rotation doesn't work after that.
There are problems with anything.
And the serious problems are always serious.

This particular aircraft does have wings, it should fall slower than human body otherwise would if something went wrong in horizontal flight.
The worst phase would be full engine failure right at transition from verticle to horizontal.
Which an engine failure on take off is still a way to die via conventional fixed wing aircraft.

The wheel of misfortune, listened to an older lecture on it.
Interestingly this design wasn't one of the categories.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Zeke

One thing you can say for a freeway or beltway is that everyone is going the same direction on the same plane a lot of the times between barriers. Take 2 factors, or even 1 of the first 2 out of the equation, and you have chaos. Sure, computer power will help, but....

For commuter purposes, the last 25 to 50 miles, there is a lot of work being done with fuel cells, batteries, a combination of the two, etc.

Flight in the national airspace for unmanned systems is a reality now and will become more so...governed by the FAA. Just like manned aircraft, there will proscribed routes and altitudes, flight following, etc.

Again, the redundancies in unmanned systems is simply amazing. They do what you tell them to do and can be programmed to recommend autonomy in certain cases. I will have no problem being in a pilot-less aircraft.

Concerning accidents and the like: The standards for unmanned commuter aircraft will not change just because the air vehicle does not have a pilot onboard. They will be certified aircraft to the same standards as manned transport aircraft.

Frankly, the electric motors driving the industry are so reliable they make jet engines jealous.

Ducted design is the way to go for safety, efficiency and noise abatement.

[GH85Carrera]

We own a 2004 Cessna 182T. Long proven design, and a great aircraft. It makes a Ferrari look cheap to own. We are going to have to do our annual inspection next month. Every single panel is opened and the interior is removed just to see the innards. Looking for any corrosion or wear items. It is a long tedious process, and every system is tested, not just compression and tire pressure. It is an expensive operation that usually takes several weeks if everything is going great. When the engine get to a certain number of hours, it is HAS to be either rebuilt, or replaced and that is usually 30 grand.

To get to an era of commuting air vehicles we will need a lot more mechanics.

Our 182 takes off, and lands on a nice long commercial runway and has wings hold it up and the engine is to keep the pilot from sweating and move forward while it sucks up amazing amounts of gasoline. That is a LOT of energy required just to fly. Energy is needed in either electrical form or ICE form. Whatever, it takes a lot of go power. And if the engine fails in an airplane at least we can hopefully glide to the ground. An aircraft with no means of support becomes a brick like falling stone.

I want my flying car like almost everyone else. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. If they do ever make a commercial production commuting aircraft they will make private jets look affordable. The lawyers will be salivating in anticipation of the lawsuits.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I want my flying car like almost everyone else. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. If they do ever make a commercial production commuting aircraft they will make private jets look affordable. The lawyers will be salivating in anticipation of the lawsuits.

I get it, trust me.

The UAS commuter studies, and I have helped with a few, all focus on VTOL at each end for point to point delivery of passengers just like a helicopter.

I have been involved, as you know, with UAS for over twenty years. The main stumbling blocks for many years were government regulations that prevented over the horizon flights for non-military UAS. I got out of the commercial UAS business (made good, not great money) was because of FAA regulations and our inability to scale up to meet demand.

Other reasons as well, mostly on man-power costs associated with FAA regulations.

We are working with a company that award a contract from Walmart for package delivery. They are the dog that caught the car. It is clar to them that ducted fan design are essential for safety.

BTW, the Honda lawyers ended the flying (manned) motorcycle for all the reason you stated above. Lawsuit central!

Lots of moving parts by people are pushing the envelope, never bad thing in aviation: I was told when I started managing all Navy and Marine Corps UAS in 2005 that they were a "fad" every freaking day.

[aschen]

I think this is the future of personal entertainment vehicles but not transportation, for the same reasons we dont have flying cars and really even genav as transportation

I think the future (present maybe?) of short commutes in highly populated areas for much of the world will be electric bikes, scooters, and mini motorcycles

[GH85Carrera]

One of the local stories is of a DR. that bought a 4 passenger aircraft for his toy. On a 100+ degree day he decided to take a 300 pound friend and some luggage on a trip to Texas. Full fuel tanks, and off they go. At the end of the runway he pulls it up and is simply overweight and augers in and kills himself and the passenger. 100% stupid pilot error. The math for a safe takeoff in that heat was just not possible, and they should have stayed on the ground.

The widow sues everyone.

One of the local parts suppliers is included in the lawsuit. He sold the tires to the owner and they were on the airplane when it crashed. He sold them freaking tires, and was pert of the lawsuit. It cost him a lot of money to defend himself and his company for selling tires, that anyone can understand had nothing to do with the crash. That is not uncommon with airplane crashes. I guess car crashes are so common that the tire stores are not sued for all the car crashes.

The judge should have tossed the lawsuit and made the widow and the attorney pay all the costs of the people they sued.