"Eastward Bound" wrote in message
om...
I remember watching on Discovery channel the possibilities of giving
the common people minature aircraft that are extreamly simple to fly.

Is such a thing even in the drawing board? A whole metropolis that
has no massive freeways. Just parking lots for the aircraft at the
shopping malls and such. Landing pads everywhere for most all
aircraft takes off and lands virticaly. All aircraft controlled
electronicaly by an advanced type of autopilot. All you have to do is
type in your destination and the aircraft takes off so long as it's
sensors don't show that it's either too low on fuel or certain fluids
and that everything is in working condition.

Does that sound whimsical to you?

I'm sure given enough time and advance in technology anything is possible.
What huge advantage there is to flying versus driving on the ground is not
clear to me however, the same advances in technologies could probably
produce more practicle ground transportation systems. But my main reason for
pessimism is that people are inherently afraid of flying. Even with
mountains of statistics showing that a commercial airliner is safer than
driving, most people feel safer on the ground.