ATC doesn’t fly aircraft, people in aircraft fly aircraft, whether they’re called pilots or drivers. We don’t seem puzzled that millions of cars and trucks can drive around without “Ground Traffic Control”, and in fact a lot of aircraft flying over the US do so safely every day without need of ATC (most are not aware of this, because their experience with flying is with the big commercial aircraft that do use ATC, but a lot of general aviation is not required to use it in the US although GA does have the option of using it even when not required). It will require that people follow rules while flying - and getting people to follow the rules is usually the hardest part, whether it’s memorized procedures or someone on the radio telling them where to go and how to get there.
Since you don’t even need pavement for a runway for a small aircraft, and we already have lots of roads, really any strip of straight-away that’s suitably flat and free of overhead obstacles that’s about a mile or so long would do for small aircraft.
I’ve actually done that. You’re right, not a lot of fun. The important thing is to strap the little monsters in tight and make sure there’s nothing in reach they can throw.
There won’t be flying cars zipping around any time soon mainly because a proper flying car just couldn’t work in any urban or suburban environment.
If we may discard antigravity thingamabobs what we are left is good old Newton to make a car go up and away from a parking spot, you need thrust in the form of expelled gasses at silly speeds. Think of a jump jet. Now think of a jump jet sandwiched between two other jump jets, pedal to the metal to lift off… and the other jump jets are blown away by the downwash, the windows of the grocery store shatter, the venerable Ms. Smith is flung ass over head across the street, pebbles on the road are blasted in a ring of peppering projectiles and a little Bobby’s icecream ball is knocked off the cone.
A flying car, Back to The Future style, is not just unfeasible, it should be downrigth illegal.
Pinches brows between index and thumb
Install a bomb door under the rear seats then.
Do I have to think of everything here?
You could just limit where people are allowed to take off and land - you’d need to do it anyway to stop people running into power lines. Air travel would basically be treated like freeways - you drive to the nearest designated landing/take-off area (like you do with interchanges currently), fly to the landing/take-off area closest to your designation, then drive again from there.
People drive supercars worth that much and more. It seems to me to be aimed at the “if you have to worry about fender benders you can’t afford it” crowd.
Okay, do you guys REALLY want widespread flying cars? Have you guys ever actually driven? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not entirely sure I want some of the people I see every day on the way do school being able to not only get me in a wreck and break my bones, but get me in a wreck at a high enough point for me to go SPLAT on the pavement with my totaled car (not to mention the trajectory of crashed in a city environment… those poor office buildings and department stores). Everyone always imagines lifting off in rush hour traffic and flying over everyone else, but the rush hour traffic and all the nutjobs will just be transported a couple hundred feet up and given a 3rd dimension to try and weave through traffic in.
I’d like to weigh in here as a professional flight instructor.
As much as I’d love all the extra business, I have to say I agree that most people are not going to meet the current standard for a pilot’s license. Even if we used the Light Sport model, which has fewer requirements, it seems unlikely the masses would get pilot’s licenses.
However…
We in aviation often have a hard time imagining life without the FAA as it is now. A pilot used to dealing with the FAA, when presented with something new and revolutionary, immediately thinks, “Good luck getting THAT certified in the next 200 years.”
But suppose the FAA went away, or was replaced by a very different agency? The standards could be different (ie, looser), and allow more people and types of flight operations to be licensed. What we’d have then might look very similar to what we have now with driver’s licenses: Vastly watered down standards that permit just about anyone over 16 who isn’t blind to operate a vehicle. And IMO, there are many, many road accidents as a result.
Now that’s not necessarily BAD. We seem, as a society, to accept it as the cost of doing things at the pace we prefer. Maybe some day we’ll be at that point with flying cars, but I doubt it will be soon. At the moment, everyone freaks out whenever a major air crash happens, and small plane incidents still make the paper.
Our attitudes, and the FAA will need to change before flying cars are the new horse. But as one of the people who would quickly be able to take advantage of the change, I hope I’m wrong and it happens very soon.
The FAA could indeed be replaced by a vastly different agency – one which is not simultaneously tasked with regulating air travel and promoting it. One might think this would result in stiffening requirements, not relaxing.
Are you saying that most people are not willing/able to spend the time and money to earn a license? Or that most people are simply not mentally or phycically capable of earning a license?
I meant that considering the many obstacles, most people aren’t going to earn pilot licenses as they now exist. Chief among these are the time, money, and effort. But I do think most people are capable if they so desire.
Physically, using LSA standards, anyone who has a driver’s license and hasn’t been denied an aviation medical in the past would qualify. But that would still disqualify quite a few. And some people would self-disqualify based on perceived health.
As a former teacher turned flight instructor, I’m a big believer in training. I feel strongly that most people can learn just about anything with sufficient time and effort, with few exceptions. So I think almost everyone is capable of learning to fly.
One of my first flight students decided to take lessons because he was terrified of flying. I’ve had several who disclosed learning disabilities that definitely lengthened their training times, but eventually met the standards. Had quite a few older folks who hadn’t been in a training environment for a long time, but they eventually got it too.
But remember, these are people usually motivated by enjoyment. In today’s world we tend to see a driver’s license as something close to a right, and the training and test as a perfunctory hassle.
Not so for aviation - I can assure you my local FSDO is not just handing out licenses. And under those circumstances, not everyone will qualify. This is why I think a fundamental shift in how the FAA does things would be necessary for the flying car scenario to become a paradigm shift in personal travel.
Mind you, I’m not necessarily in favor of that change. We may not like the FAA all the time - I certainly don’t agree with much of how they do things. But I must acknowledge that they DO preside over the safest air system in the world. So in a way I think their caution and slow nature is defensible.
We had the Clifford Ball in the mid 90s (famous Phish concert), umm… An astronaut that was on the crash of the space shuttle back in '03 was born here… or lived here or something… It was one of only a couple Space Shuttle landing sites in case of emergency because of the size of the base’s landing strip. We were a MAJOR target for the Russians if the Cold War went hot because bombers and missiles could just go from our super north spot (a couple miles from the Canadian border). We were going to be the first ones hit, pretty much. The guy who wrote the “We Three Kings” Christmas carol was the head guy at the little Trinity church downtown here in the 1800s… um… Frampton recorded a few songs for “Frampton Comes Alive” at the springfest concert here in the 70s. The couple years I went to school there the springfests sucked… then they canceled them for good. And that movie Frozen River was filmed here. Oh oh, and the Battle of Plattsburgh, which had a big effect on the war of 1812.
I’m not claiming any of these things were big… My town is odd and pretty crappy. There are a few odd things that happened here, though.
On edit: An episode of Law and Order was set here, I don’t know if any filming happened here, but they put in fake addresses. They pretty much made fun of the town. I laughed and a few people in our newspapers got all in a tuss over it.
just put in catapults like aircraft carriers have, that should solve the take off and landing bit. One in every parking garage and neighbor hood.
ok I dont think this will ever be a good idea for the general public, we already have someone who wants to land his in traffic on the friggin freeway…cause traffic isnt bad enough without some idiot landing a plane during rush hour.
