Oh geez, another one. These things never work out because the regulations for airplanes and cars combined could easily kill a man if dropped from a three-story window.
Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
21–30 of 55 posts
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#22I just don't get the appeal of roadable aircraft like this. Every single one I've seen is neither a particularly good airplane nor a particularly good car, and they're expensive . For the price of one, you can generally buy a better car, a better airplane, and a second better car to keep at your most frequent destination airport, and have enough money left over to rent cars at other destinations for years. I can't fi…
Does this not seem to be the pattern of most emerging technologies? They're bulky, not so practical, and expensive as hell. Would a consumer want to buy this now? Probably not. I think the site is more for the purpose of bringing people on-board to the project (engineers, investors, etc). That being said, I think it's a very exciting vision with practical application. If you're a business traveler, why bother with th…
I think one of the great realizations in 15-20 years is going to be that instead of asking for flying cars we should have been asking for self-driving cars, which made flying cars feasible since non-pilots could use them.
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#23The idea of flying car, while very nice and present in many scifi creations should not happen, at least not with humans controlling it manually.
We have already countless idiots on the roads, I don't want them in the air as well; I'd be afraid to get out of my house.
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#24I just don't get the appeal of roadable aircraft like this. Every single one I've seen is neither a particularly good airplane nor a particularly good car, and they're expensive . For the price of one, you can generally buy a better car, a better airplane, and a second better car to keep at your most frequent destination airport, and have enough money left over to rent cars at other destinations for years. I can't fi…
Does this not seem to be the pattern of most emerging technologies? They're bulky, not so practical, and expensive as hell. Would a consumer want to buy this now? Probably not. I think the site is more for the purpose of bringing people on-board to the project (engineers, investors, etc). That being said, I think it's a very exciting vision with practical application. If you're a business traveler, why bother with th…
It's also the pattern of plenty of bad ideas.
How does staying in the same vehicle help? Is it really that big of a deal to move between your car and your airplane?
Let's not forget that airplanes need a preflight inspection before you fly if you're not suicidal, and having just driven the airplane to the airport doesn't eliminate that need. Quite the contrary: being exposed to the stresses of driving will increase the need for a preflight inspection.
The time-consuming non-flying activities for an airplane are preflight inspection, flight planning, clearances, etc. A roadable airplane does nothing at all to help this.
Maybe you save two or three minutes out of your half-hour preflight activities. Whoopdedo. Meanwhile, you make up more than that lost time because your dedicated airplane is a better and faster airplane than the crazy "flying car".
Sometimes you're really just better off having separate objects doing what they do best. I don't see any push for amphibious cars, for example. Everybody seems to have accepted that you're better off buying a car and a boat separately. But somehow there's an obsession with airplane/cars. I blame The Jetsons.
I could be wrong, but I'm going to need someone to give me some sort of actual advantage to one of these things before I might think I am. It doesn't save you time, it doesn't save you money, so what's the point?
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#25Great concept, but I call "vaporware" for several years to come. We're all still waiting for Icon Aircraft, the light-sport aircraft you can tow behind your car. http://www.iconaircraft.com. Deliveries are waitlisted until 2017 -- and Icon doesn't try to be a car as well. ;)
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#26I just don't get the appeal of roadable aircraft like this. Every single one I've seen is neither a particularly good airplane nor a particularly good car, and they're expensive . For the price of one, you can generally buy a better car, a better airplane, and a second better car to keep at your most frequent destination airport, and have enough money left over to rent cars at other destinations for years. I can't fi…
Does this not seem to be the pattern of most emerging technologies? They're bulky, not so practical, and expensive as hell. Would a consumer want to buy this now? Probably not. I think the site is more for the purpose of bringing people on-board to the project (engineers, investors, etc). That being said, I think it's a very exciting vision with practical application. If you're a business traveler, why bother with th…
For business travel I'm assuming convenience and time would be important factors. Anything that would take more than 2-3 hours of you personally driving or flying would be counterproductive if you can just get on a cheap commercial aircraft (with their accompanying safety record) and earn miles while you lean back and rest.
Not saying this won't have a practical purpose, but I'm not convinced business travel will be one of them. I'm thinking tesla roadster, it's a cool and expensive toy until new tech is developed that allows for more passengers, longer range, and more convenient takeoff/landing sites.
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#27I just don't get the appeal of roadable aircraft like this. Every single one I've seen is neither a particularly good airplane nor a particularly good car, and they're expensive . For the price of one, you can generally buy a better car, a better airplane, and a second better car to keep at your most frequent destination airport, and have enough money left over to rent cars at other destinations for years. I can't fi…
Anything built dual purpose is heavily compromised (win 8). The appeal is that most airports do not have ground transportation. Not even a taxi. You are usually arranging a private party to pick you up, or hoping the one worn out police car the town leaves at the airport for public use is still there. You are correct though, unless they can get the price down, they will not sell in volume.
How often are people flying into airports that don't even have taxis around? Even if you are, will you really save time versus flying a faster pure airplane into a larger airport nearby and then driving a rented car from there?
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#28These things keep coming up. Here's the part i don't get: Who are these people who think it is a good idea to invest in such ventures? Really.
Let's put pen to paper and figure this out.
The cost of an aero car is likely to be in the $300K range. This does not include maintenance, insurance (insurance!) and other operating costs.
Well, to put it in very simple terms, with $300k you can buy a nicely equipped Tesla AND an equivalent Cessna and still have up to $200k left in the bank --depending on the airplane cost which starts $10K.
Going this route means that you'll have ZERO FUEL COSTS while on the road and a dedicated aircraft that is well-tested, proven and with a history of millions of flight miles.
But, wait! You can rent an aircraft for somewhere in the $75 to $250 per hour range. No jets. I am looking at Cessna 152 to 182 class aircraft. The aerocars are roughly equivalent to the low end of the Cessna range.
If you buy a Tesla and rent aircraft you have zero on-ground fuel costs as well as over $200K in the bank. Depending on the model you rent you have enough money for over 2,500 hours of rentals. You also have zero aircraft maintenance and operating costs. If you play it right 100% of the rental costs are tax deductible.
It is important to note that this also gives you aircraft at every airport in the world where such aircraft are rented. This beats owning a plane by a massive margin.
But, wait! How much do you really fly per year. Really?
Nah, these things are bad ideas. Interesting from an engineering perpective.
Maybe Tesla should market a flying car deal: buy a Tesla and the fuel you'll save will buy you several domestic flights per month. Maybe they can make a deal with flight schools to get people certified at a discount and then they can rent planes at a discount as well.
Again, I have to wonder who invests in these things. I remember reading about one that got some $40 million from investors. Learn to use a friggin calculator.
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#29I just don't get the appeal of roadable aircraft like this. Every single one I've seen is neither a particularly good airplane nor a particularly good car, and they're expensive . For the price of one, you can generally buy a better car, a better airplane, and a second better car to keep at your most frequent destination airport, and have enough money left over to rent cars at other destinations for years. I can't fi…
That's a little bit like saying 10 years ago that no one needs a smartphone, it's a crappy phone and a crappy computer, it's too big and heavy and expensive and you can't get data anywhere and it sucks to type on. Just buy a phone for moving around and a computer for getting work done. Things change. Anything could be the Apple Newton of the next big thing :). (Although to be honest, I see transportation moving much…
Unlike smartphones, the technology to build flying cars has existed for decades, and it's fundamental laws of physics rather than Moore's law that the designers have to combat to try to give them better performance characteristics than a WWI aircraft.
If you've already lost the time saved by not switching from car to aircraft a minute or two into the flight it's not that practical except in situations where there's absolutely no chance of getting a taxi or hire vehicle at the end. Suffice to say it isn't going to be a cheap solution to that relatively rare problem.
Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft
#30I like that the material it's made out of is called "steal".