Aerial Urban Mobility Projects – Global Rankings [Abbott Aerospace article]

[WKTaylor]

Coming sooner or later... true personal aerial mobility!?

The following article makes it clear this is not a trivial design or operational issue... but like all human endeavors will likely succeed due to high level of energy and interest!

The configurations evolving in this category are mind boggling... thanks to advances in aerodynamics, propulsion, electronics, avionics, software and unmanned experimentation.

Aerial Urban Mobility Projects – Global Rankings

https://www.abbottaerospace.com/whats-new/aerial-urban-mobility-project-global-rankings/

eVTOL Aircraft Directory

https://evtol.news/aircraft?

The Vertical Flight Society

https://vtol.org/

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[GregLocock]

I hope they have to meet the same noise limits as cars in all phases of operation. No exceptions.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[rb1957]

this is what we want ? in a time when we're told that using energy is causing our imminent doom ? and people can barely handle 2 dof ? so the flying will be all computer controlled ? what, skynet ?? and what happens with failures, or inclement weather ??

Yeah, I'm a Negative Nellie.

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[Ng2020]

Most urban air mobility projects seen to be fields of dreams in my opinion.
Despite all the effort applied to the technology, modern cities were never designed for VTOL aircraft, they are designed around cars, and in some cases, people if you're lucky.
Safe operation will be restricted to specific times, landing sites, and probably routes too. They will have some use, but I see them only as an evolution of light helicopters.

 

[IRstuff]

Worse than all of that is, of course, that probably 90% of the population can ill afford such a vehicle.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[rb1957]

do you mean 90% pay for what 0.01% do ? nah, never ...

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[IRstuff]

Not even that prosaic; just that the cost will likely be prohibitive for most people that don't have anything in the way of discretionary spending on the order of $100k

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[Ng2020]

Even if they were pay-per-use, I don't see these as being remotely compatible with our existing urban environments, with regards to both safety and 'liveability'. Existing cities would require major retrofits at incredible expense, and to what end?
These are the Zeppelins of the 21st century. Exciting, but largely impractical. Then again I'm no futurist, so maybe I'm just being resistant to change.

 

[Sparweb]

You guys are so "americentric". It's such an innate idea to us North Americans that people who live in a city have the right (preposterous!) to peace and safety, that we don't easily realize this is not so for half the planet.

Quad-copter taxis could become ragingly popular in urban centers of Asia and South America even while being banned from cities in NA and EU.

Please remember: we're not all rednecks!

http://www.sparweb.ca

 

[WKTaylor]

The ancient aircraft that I work-on, NOW, was expected [in the late 1950s] to start-out with better than 1-major mishap per every 100,000-Hrs [1 per 10^5] due to any factor. In the 'warm-cold-war' of that era... this was 'acceptable' [loss-rate]. Very quickly, the USAF demanded that this rate improve to 1-major mishap per every 1,000,000-Hrs [1:10^6]. I think that the current major mishap rate attainment/expectation is way better-than 1:10^6 … but not near commercial industry standards.

As I understand it the commercial aircraft certification agencies are NOW 'aiming for' 1-major mishap per every 10,000,000-Hrs [1:10^7] due to any factor. Many years almost NO major mishaps occur... highlighting safety of flying to the public.

Sadly the record for general aviation is closer to 5:10^5

SO let's look at this from the perspective of 'safety'... air-taxi from A-to-B alive/well. IF these air taxis demonstrate 1:10^5 I think the flying public might [barely] see these favorably... for a short while... but this should expand to 1:10^6 and then better-than 1:10^7 for real trust.

Perhaps 'countries with a lower safety-perspective/threshold' are the 'perfect places' to develop these modes of transportation. SAE's push for autonomous vehicles has raised huge numbers of issues yet to be solved for every case... where a real 'pilot' could find [mostly] a way to muddle-thru.

The US Public is fickle and has preconceived notions of safety. Always remember this parting thought for aerial transportation of any kind... "The J3 Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." ~Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[Ng2020]

It's not so much the vehicles I was talking about, it's the environment in which they operate. Even if you did plan to operate from a roadway, realistically there not likely to be room for takeoff/landing outside dedicated helipads (due to cables, wires, overpasses, proximity to structures, people, trees), so it's not going to be door to door transportation.
As for citizens of cities in Asia and the middle east readily embracing a lower safety standard and effectively becoming guinea pigs for (mostly) western tech companies, so that their ruling elite can bypass traffic jams - now there's and ethics minefield... I'd say the majority of inhabitants on the ground would find that egregious, but they would not be among the paying customers nor would they be the power brokers in those countries.

 

[WKTaylor]

This article caught my eye... especially since I tend to be more inclined to STOL for a winged-aircraft as opposed to VTOL...

Active Landing Gear That Launch An Airplane Like A Bird Caught The Air Force’s Attention

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericte...-like-a-bird-caught-the-air-forces-attention/

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[WKTaylor]

And Abbott Aerospace had this steely-eyed perspective on the cold hard truth that cause physics and engineering to collide with dreams and fantasy and investor$$.

https://mailchi.mp/60391d4706e8/abbott-aerospace-newsletter-march-2021?

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[steve_h]

I think many more decades will pass until auto-flights become a daily routine. And there are a number of reasons that you have already listed. I am also particularly scared of the environmental impact flying will have. It is also worth noting that refueling a tank for one flight even for a small single-seat aircraft will cost 5 or even 10 times more than a car.