Can I have 30? I need to get to my hyperloop pod faster.
Those modern transportation 'solutions' are a sign of local maxima of current city design. A bad design that cannot scale any further.
So maybe instead we start on fixing cities?
Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
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Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#32Now this one looks like a giant drone. And to have its propeller exposed, it seems quite dangerous to travel in a public place.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#33The VTOL concept for air taxis is silly; this is just a 3d rendering for a press release, and battery energy density just isn't there yet for them to be useful. But electric flight is without a doubt going to revolutionize commuter airlines. With an electric powertrain, you get rid of the vast majority of costs associated with flying which are the intensive maintenance and overhaul schedules required for turboprop/tu…
electric flight might be an empty promise.
The weight of the tanks never drops, so you are flying always full tank plane, the energy density of batteries is much lower -> heavier tanks
And you'd better hope there is no battery fire. Those are vicious.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#34> Zero emission flights
The same lies that are peddled to us about pretty much everything. The emissions are just moved downstream, and could even be worse in certain places, as compared to other transportation systems. I am curious to see how they fare in energy usage as compared to an electric car, electric bikes and electric trains.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#35Can I have 30? I need to get to my hyperloop pod faster. Those modern transportation 'solutions' are a sign of local maxima of current city design. A bad design that cannot scale any further. So maybe instead we start on fixing cities?
> Those modern transportation 'solutions' are a sign of local maxima of current city design. A bad design that cannot scale any further.
Exactly. And for some reason the "solutions" always have the nice feature that they get those using them out of the sight of the rest of the lowly peasants living in those cities.
As if it hasn't been demonstrated how public transport can do wonders for highly populated if done right (e.g. look at japan).
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#36"65 dB(A) during fly-over and below 70 dB(A) during landing." So like a vacuum cleaner, yikes!
Significantly quieter than car traffic noise. Struggling to see the issue here.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are probably enough people of financial means who are willing to pay for expensive and much faster taxi service, especially if they can go to the roof of the building they're currently in to depart. There are lots of reasons why this won't work, but it could work... and it could be quite useful in the right scenario. Lots of useful long distance flights leave early in the morning, meaning to get to the airport…
Chances are the roof of the building they're currently in will never have a heliport. Most buildings weren't designed to support the extra weight of a helipad (including equipment) plus aircraft, and the roofs are already covered with antennas and HVAC equipment. In the foreseeable future there will only be a handful of heliports per city center. Most passengers will have to take ground transport to reach one.
True most buildings aren't designed for it, and they are already covered with antennas and AC units and such.
But weight is not an issue for light aircraft. For example, the Robinson R44 (4 place heli) is only 660kg empty. The Airbus taxi will be made as light as possible, so I wouldn't expect it to be much heavier.
As long as the supports for the landing pad are placed appropriately with the building structure, it shouldn't be any problem. More likely there would be the concern of accidents and the significant collateral damage they could cause.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#38There is a business use case here in NYC. NYC to the Hamptons or out east long Island. The locals in the Hamptons are complaining about noise pollution from helicopters making trips to the Hamptons from NYC. If this makes little or no noise the current helicopter service companies will use them and people will pay $800 ( off-peak) - $2,500 ( peak) one way trip from the west side of manhattan / Chelsea area to east Ha…
Good short clip that discusses the history of helicopter transit in NYC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nbz5VFilxY
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or - and hear me out here - the US could invest in their public transportation infrastructure. But sure, let's do flying taxis.
Flying taxis is public transportation
Charging $3 for bus riders is controversial within the public transportation sphere, nevermind the $20 a car taxi can cost. Unless there's something about flying taxis that would make them price competitive with a $3 bus trip, it's hardly public transportation.
Re: Airbus reveals the next generation of CityAirbus
#40In related news, Brazilian GOL Airlines just pre-ordered 250 eVTOL from Vertical Aerospaces for a 2025 delivery. So I think the market is heated-up right now. https://worldairlinenews.com/2021/09/21/gol-to-launch-a-netw... Brazil, and specially São Paulo, is a huge market for helicopters and air-taxi services in general, not to speak of regional air services, for which the VA-X4 aircraft is somewhat constrained with…
Ups is buying 10 evtol from a company in vermont
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/ups-to-buy-evtol-aircraft-to...