Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft • Hacker News Board

Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft

#51

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:06 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #48

nightski wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically you are supposed to pre-inspect your car before driving every time also. Remember the DMV course taken in high school? Also you don't need a flight plan, that is completely optional (it is essentially a SAR service if you crash). With modern avionics you can dynamically recalculate flight paths on the fly in the cockpit. You really don't need clearances either, unless flying into class B airspace (which y…

The difference is that failing to inspect your car before you drive might put you on the side of the road while you wait for a tow truck. Failing to preflight your airplane will kill you if you do it habitually. This is doubly true when your airplane folds up and you unfold it right before flight. You absolutely need a flight plan. You do not need to file a flight plan , but you still need a plan. You need to know wh…

[deleted]

Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft

#52

Post by Zigurd » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:17 PM UTC

If you can afford to own and fly a light plane, you can afford a rental car or an "airport car" you keep at your usual destinations. The scope of the problem this solves is vanishingly narrow.

Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft

#53

Post by tzs » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:58 PM UTC

Something doesn't add up. From the specs in automobile mode, fuel consumption is 7.5 l per 100 km, and the range is 500 km.

From that, we can deduce that it has a 37.5 l fuel capacity.

Now let's look at the specs for plane mode. It says that it has a range of 700 km, and consumes 15 l per hour. At 15 l per hour, it would take 2.5 hours to go through 37.5 l, but to go 700 km in 2.5 hours takes an average speed of 280 km/hour. The specs say that the top speed is 200 km/hour, so what is going on? (They do say "and more" for the top speed, but I would not expect the listed speed to that far under the real top speed).

Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft

#54

Post by pdelbarba » Thu, Sep 26, 2013, 1:44 AM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #27

sunfly wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Just do a search for nearby airfields. In most places, they are actually surprisingly common http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_Los_Ang...

Re: Aeromobil: Roadable aircraft

#55

Post by mikeash » Thu, Sep 26, 2013, 2:41 PM UTC

pdelbarba wrote: post #54

mikeash wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Just do a search for nearby airfields. In most places, they are actually surprisingly common http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_Los_Ang...

Of course, but how many of those can't get a taxi?