131–140 of 632 posts
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
This is an excellent question to ask.
There are good reasons to fly. Some places in the US are only accessible through flight (I'm looking at you, Alaska.) Some places require insane amounts of time to commute/manage because of a lack of infrastructure. Some common low-flight hour jobs (eg: pipeline monitoring) are only feasible through flight.
There are currently good reasons that most people don't fly. They usually come down to time, money and training (which is time, money and ability.) There is also significant risk (think: along the risk level of riding a motorcycle)
I guarantee that flying will not get so safe and cheap that the average Joe will just start hopping in a plane for a hamburger every other day.
I personally think the things we should be focusing on are making much more efficient GA aircraft. Also, getting rid of 100LL and gasoline would be nice. It's really hard to do though.
As for the smartest and most-privileged people, there are much worse things to devote time to as an engineer. There are also a lot of engineers these days. Don't despair too much :)
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
If you think there's a problem more worthwhile of their efforts, why don't you dedicate your life to it?
This is super great, glad to see you-all up'ing the ante for safety. As you say a good percent of accidents are pilot error based loss of control events ( https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/data/Pages/GeneralAviationDashbo... ). There's a lot be said for getting multiple safety technologies in one package, as you seem to be doing. I'm interested in your approach to certification. I've heard the LSA limits are increasing dra…
Yes, our first product is experimental and has a 51% requirement, but Sling has a great factory build assist program that will help with that. Typically, electrical systems aren't included in a 51% build and Sling builders don't usually touch the avionics (when doing a factory assist), so we hope that stays true.
The things that exist today are good steps in the direction, but we are pushing the boundary further with fly-by-wire, where these is very little innovation.
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
> In the US, trips that are 50-300 miles are almost all done by car because that distance is too short for commercial airlines and too far for public transportation. A bit off-topic but this is a political problem, not a technical one. Trips of 50-300 miles are certainly within the operating range of fast and efficient rail travel as demonstrated in multiple places around the world outside of the US.
Interestingly I'm hosting my dad near Amsterdam for the week and to get from Sacramento to SFO (from where he flew to AMS) he... flew. Which I guess is logical, but seems insane to me when he lives close to Sacramento Amtrak which actually HAS good, regular service to SFO (via Bart, connecting at Richmond). Even if you build the train some people won't give it a try, sadly. A lot of carbon was spewed in to the air to…
So basically a GA Airbus. I think this is a pretty cool project, and while it may not achieve the lofty goals you’ve set forth, any improvement in safety is worthwhile. As other commenters have point out though, where this stuff falls short is ultimately still the human. Ok, great… your aircraft won’t stall in Normal Law. However you’ve now lost a generator and a whole FCC and you’re in direct law. The 400 hr pilot h…
As a software engineer and private pilot, I'll take mechanical controls connected to the flight surfaces and my competency as a pilot to risk my own life, rather than turn it over to other software engineers, hoping they get everything right, leaving me with no real connection to the flight control surfaces when the shit hits the fan.
I'd at least have to know what kind of engineering process and change management practices or functional safety procedures are being followed by the company developing this stuff before I'd even consider going for a ride in such a plane.
At $500,000 why not use the laser-ring gyros that’s hardly cost prohibitive
> We want people who don’t think about airplanes as a mode of transportation to start flying It really depresses me that in 2024 we have some of the smartest, most privileged people in the world deciding that this is what they’re going to dedicate their life to Shouldn’t we be doing exactly the opposite? Getting people to stop flying
Kidding aside, we’re really going to name the company using a homophone of the most famous missing pilot in history?