private aviation for everybody?

[Skybird]

Sounds like a fascinating idea, but remembering how many mad men I say driving like crazy every day, I nevertheless have doubts that this could be anything else than just an extremely bad idea. Putting an azz who drives 180 km/h on the Autobahn and approaches your car to less than a meter with signalling lights behind the controls of an electric glider is not something that really gives you any peace of mind at all. If I would have a word in it, I estimate that around 5% of all car drivers and 20-25% of all bike riders in Germany would see their driving licences taken away immediately.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pag...gy/7384788.stm

[NealT]

In order to do it, the flying part would have to be automatic - no human intervention.

[Platapus]

Most drivers in my area have a hard time navigating in two dimensions, no less three.

I remember getting my license back in the 8o's. There was a lot to learn and keep in your head. Frankly I don't think too many average drivers could handle the studies.

Well a lot of people already have either helicopter or airplane pilots licences. With a helicopter one is not so restricted to airports although I wouldn't recommend landing on ones gf's backyard as Prince William did. Anybody here have a airplane or helicopter pilots licence?

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Most drivers in my area have a hard time navigating in two dimensions, no less three.

I remember getting my license back in the 8o's. There was a lot to learn and keep in your head. Frankly I don't think too many average drivers could handle the studies.

I think as the article suggests, flying these things will NOT actually be like piloting - it's supposed to be heavily computer-assisted, and less complicated than driving a car.

In 20 years from now, I could see that happening. Realistically speaking, we already have capable-enough autopilot AI, just that it needs to be proved more reliable.

[August]

Originally Posted by CCIP

...just that it needs to be proved more reliable.

Yeah, reliability is far more important for an aircraft than any ground vehicle.

[CCIP]

No reason a very light aircraft can't be made relatively fool-proof. I assume getting a license on these would not be at all like getting a pilot's license. I wonder what it would take to train the average commuter to simply learn how to land this in case of emergency - I don't assume they would need much in the way of other manual piloting skills. Not that this one's a simple one.

I guess this may also be high time to bring back the idea of recovery parachutes. If we are talking about what's basically electric-powered light gliders, no reason they couldn't pack a parachute and maybe an emergency cushion to bring it down relatively safely (or at least in a way that' survivable for the occupants). Especially assuming these things are made of light composite materials and electric-powered, this would actually also reduce a lot of risks both in the air and on the ground - not much chance this thing would catch fire or explode even in the worst circumstances. On the other hand I wonder how these things would cope with weather - I don't imagine these things would be very fit to deal with the climate in many parts of the world on a daily-commute basis.