Ted Huffmire
July 23rd 03, 10:01 PM
There couldn't be an aircar in every garage
unless we did away with the FAA medical.
What about all the people with a
"disqualifying" medical condition?
Seems like just about any medicine out
there is banned.
Probably public pressure would do away
with a medical cert for personal air travel.
Also, it would be too dangerous for everybody
on the ground. Look at some of the junky cars
out there on the roads. Parts would be falling
on people. There would be so many mid air
collisions, and vehicles would fall on people's
heads!
Law enforcement would be a nightmare - there would
be dogfights between the skyway patrol troopers
and fleeing felons. How would they pull you over?
What would happen to the DMV? Would it be run
by the feds since aircars would cross state
lines all the time?
Today there are not any air cars. There are only
200,000 G.A. single engine piston aircraft, and
it seems that whenever you go flying out of
any municipal airport in california, you have to
be very careful about looking for traffic.
San Carlos airport is so busy on Saturday morning
that you have to wait and wait and wait to get
clearance to take off.
There are 300 million people in the U.S. - imagine
multiplying the number of G.A. airplanes by over
1000!
Ted
Scott Schluer wrote:
>
> http://msnbc.com/news/917634.asp?0cl=cR
>
> "These things are aircars — a.k.a. flying cars or personal VTOL
> (vertical-take-off-and-landing) aircraft, and many people do want
> them. What could be a more appealing vision of the world of tomorrow
> than stepping into one's own flying machine and heading off into the
> wild blue yonder?"
>
> Vision of the world of TOMORROW? Someone should inform the editors of
> a 100-year old invention called the AIRPLANE. Have they not heard of
> these things? Maybe we, as GA pilots, are not doing enough to spread
> the word that people can fly. Want to take off vertically? Maybe we
> should inform them of the invention of the helicopter. Apparently they
> don't know about these things...
>
> More funny quotes from the same story:
>
> Building virtual ‘highways in the sky' would be a modest technical
> achievement in the almost unused airspace above us," insists Paul
> Moller. -- Should someone tell him about Victor airways? Unused
> airspace? HA. Apparently he's never been to Los Angeles.
>
> Thanks to highly sophisticated and compact computers, GPS and other
> advanced navigational technologies, and aerial collision-avoidance
> systems, it is possible to build aircraft that, through a combination
> of on-board guidance systems and ground control, would fly themselves.
> -- Hmm...not only POSSIBLE to build, but already built and in
> widespread use. I just flew a GPS flight the other day on
> auto-pilot...
>
> I laugh every time I see one of these stories...and I try to picture
> all those idiots on the road in the air with me. *cringe* The story
> goes on to illustrate all sorts of "possibilities". In my mind though,
> what happens when the relatively untrained "pilot" encounters wind
> shear on approach to landing? Do you think everyone is going to
> understand weather theory and where severe downdrafts or turbulence
> may occur? Guaging by the judgement these people use on the ground in
> their cars, I think not...anyways, enough ranting. :)
>
> Scott
unless we did away with the FAA medical.
What about all the people with a
"disqualifying" medical condition?
Seems like just about any medicine out
there is banned.
Probably public pressure would do away
with a medical cert for personal air travel.
Also, it would be too dangerous for everybody
on the ground. Look at some of the junky cars
out there on the roads. Parts would be falling
on people. There would be so many mid air
collisions, and vehicles would fall on people's
heads!
Law enforcement would be a nightmare - there would
be dogfights between the skyway patrol troopers
and fleeing felons. How would they pull you over?
What would happen to the DMV? Would it be run
by the feds since aircars would cross state
lines all the time?
Today there are not any air cars. There are only
200,000 G.A. single engine piston aircraft, and
it seems that whenever you go flying out of
any municipal airport in california, you have to
be very careful about looking for traffic.
San Carlos airport is so busy on Saturday morning
that you have to wait and wait and wait to get
clearance to take off.
There are 300 million people in the U.S. - imagine
multiplying the number of G.A. airplanes by over
1000!
Ted
Scott Schluer wrote:
>
> http://msnbc.com/news/917634.asp?0cl=cR
>
> "These things are aircars — a.k.a. flying cars or personal VTOL
> (vertical-take-off-and-landing) aircraft, and many people do want
> them. What could be a more appealing vision of the world of tomorrow
> than stepping into one's own flying machine and heading off into the
> wild blue yonder?"
>
> Vision of the world of TOMORROW? Someone should inform the editors of
> a 100-year old invention called the AIRPLANE. Have they not heard of
> these things? Maybe we, as GA pilots, are not doing enough to spread
> the word that people can fly. Want to take off vertically? Maybe we
> should inform them of the invention of the helicopter. Apparently they
> don't know about these things...
>
> More funny quotes from the same story:
>
> Building virtual ‘highways in the sky' would be a modest technical
> achievement in the almost unused airspace above us," insists Paul
> Moller. -- Should someone tell him about Victor airways? Unused
> airspace? HA. Apparently he's never been to Los Angeles.
>
> Thanks to highly sophisticated and compact computers, GPS and other
> advanced navigational technologies, and aerial collision-avoidance
> systems, it is possible to build aircraft that, through a combination
> of on-board guidance systems and ground control, would fly themselves.
> -- Hmm...not only POSSIBLE to build, but already built and in
> widespread use. I just flew a GPS flight the other day on
> auto-pilot...
>
> I laugh every time I see one of these stories...and I try to picture
> all those idiots on the road in the air with me. *cringe* The story
> goes on to illustrate all sorts of "possibilities". In my mind though,
> what happens when the relatively untrained "pilot" encounters wind
> shear on approach to landing? Do you think everyone is going to
> understand weather theory and where severe downdrafts or turbulence
> may occur? Guaging by the judgement these people use on the ground in
> their cars, I think not...anyways, enough ranting. :)
>
> Scott