Super awesome, love the vision, exciting to try something in this space, and agreed with your core observations and conclusions. My only criticism is that the interior / package needs to look way cooler to tempt people across. Working with a decent industrial design firm and making some sexy renders would go a long way!
Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
281–290 of 632 posts
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
Take a look at the more economical modern GA aircraft. A Cirrus SR22 can run at 10 gallons per hour, with a ground speed of 160+ mph. Yes, it’s more total fuel consumption than a car (but in an hour covering 2x the distance, and allowing to travel more directly) but not at all close to turbine or turboprops. At the extremely cheap (accessible to more pilots) side for pressurized planes, fuel burn is going to be 40gph…
yep! lots of interesting stuff indeed! Our plane will be ~7 gph at cruise burning unleaded fuels and fly ~170mph over the ground (with no wind)
That’s only 25 mpg which is widely considered to be unacceptably unsustainable even in the short term.
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#283While I think the project is pretty cool, I can't shake the pollution side of things out of my mind. Air transport is one of the most polluting ways to travel, and I would expect a single person airplane is even worse than a full A380. Is there anything you're doing to alleviate this issue ?
Some of the LSAs I've flown are not actually that bad pollution/climate wise. Slightly less green per mile than my mini cooper, way more green than basically any common American pickup truck.
Does this include the emissions portal-to-portal? Airports tend to be nowhere near destinations because people don’t like living near all the pollution airplanes spew.
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in a suburb near a county airport. I cannot fathom a life with Tesla owners flying over where my kids and I bbq. This idea is great, but people should still be licensed for the real safety protocols e.g. radio and not crashing into others.
I cannot fathom a life with Tesla owners flying over where my kids and I bbq. The same kinds of people who speed, watch videos, and do dangerous stunts while they drive are going to speed, watch videos, and do dangerous stunts while they fly. Uber made everyone an amateur taxi driver. AirBnb made everyone an amateur innkeeper. Now the "tech" industry wants to make everyone an amateur pilot? No thanks.
The better of the amateurs are as good as professionals.
I’ve been very well-taken care of in AirBnb’s, and I’ve been driven around well in Ubers.
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the biggest barriers at this point is probably getting a medical. There are tons of perverse incentives there - getting one if you've ever been prescribed mental health meds, for instance, can be at best a ton of red tape.
I’m willing to bet the major barriers are money and time.
A $500k aircraft that still requires a PPL solves neither of those, and getting the PPL is contingent on passing the medical, both inititally and at regular intervals thereafter.
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#286I have a silly question: my dad got his private pilot a few years back and in watching him I learned is that, even with engine failure, pilots train to be able to glide the aircraft safely. On a Cessna 150 this is purely mechanical.
In this case, how does the pilot have control to be able to land in a field in the case of engine failure?
(Not a pilot myself, so pardon the naive question!)
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#287Cool concept, I hope you're able to make it work.
Do you plan to integrate auto GCAS functionality into the flight control system?
Does the flight control system automatically detect ice buildup? (One common cause of GA crashes is inadvertently flying into icing conditions with the autopilot engaged. The autopilot compensates for the ice buildup to a certain level, then it reaches its limit and disengages at which point loss of control may be inevitable.)
Will the autoland system use Garmin Autonomi or are you building your own?
Will you attempt to detect possible pilot deviations and give them an alert?
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
light-sport rating, it encourages more people to be in the (already congested) airspace system who haven't really gained all the other skills necessary or experience to be there. LSA pilot here. I'm curious to know what skills or experience I haven't gained which allow me to be in the airspace system? I passed the exact same checkride a private pilot would, minus flying at night and VORs. I also have class B,C,D airs…
I figured this comment would get me in trouble :) I recommend doing some instrument lessons if you haven't already. When I got my instrument rating I questioned whether the private requirements are actually enough. The skills that the instrument rating teaches in terms of preparation, workload management, and emergency weather scenarios make me question whether I was really ready to fly before I had it. With the priv…
ATPL here, couldn't agree more with both of your comments.
It's not to say recreational/LS pilots are necessarily inexperienced or hazardous but the odds are certainly higher than someone trained to an IFR standard.
Like you said, raising the systems standards and improving affordability is fantastic. Lowering the barrier to entry in the complex world of aviation would require fundamental changes on so many levels I don't see this project completely achieving it but good luck to them, I think theres more to gain than lose.
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#289If there’s no rudder controls, how does one do cross wind landings?
Re: Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I really want to try Amtrak. I've looked at it a few times. But the only train line near me only has a train at it 2 or 3 times a week, at some crazy hour like 2:30am. If I'm taking a Monday-Thursday business trip, I'd have to arrive at my destination the Friday before and return home late night on Sunday. It's just not a realistic choice, unless you're really excited about trains. It doesn't help that the website is…
This is also ignoring that it’s entirely possible for Amtrak to miss the schedule by literal days.