Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane

First of all: great that you’re working on bringing innovation to general aviation! During training I also wondered about some technical aspects, as a lot of the tech in an airplane is from almost 60-70 years ago.

However, as a PPL holder myself I think that understanding weight and balance, aerodynamics, flight planning, ATC, airlaw, principles of flight etc. is paramount to keep yourself and others safe.

In the air you cannot simply drive to the side of the road and have a look at what’s going on. As a pilot you must be able to make decisions on the spot. To be able to make those properly, you have to understand what’s going on from first principles. In aviation safety is the primary goal. Statistically more than 80% of aviation accidents can be traced back to human error. Anything that facilitates bringing people in the pilot seat suggesting they need less training is something i strictly oppose.

Despite, anything that helps to simplify aircraft operations may decrease cognitive load and is therefore welcome.

I guess you're aware of the ICAO/FAA hoops you have to jump through to get anything of what you're developing beyond experimental certificate but having seen how long it took e.g. Volocopter to gain their (still incomplete) type certificate it is a long road.

If you'd be able to simplify avionics and create an affordable standardized fly-by-wire kit that alone would be a great innovation for GA especially in the ultralight and light sport aircraft category.

I wish you all the best!

> If your system can reliably prevent base-final stall spins then that would clearly be awesome.

This was actually a core inspiration for this project. A student on his first solo at an airport north of me crashed on his base to final turn.

> Can I put it into a forward slip, or will it refuse or return to coordinated flight?

Yes, you can make if forward slip. It's a bit clever imo--you just "ask" for low speed and a high descent rate and the energy controllers in the flight computer will figure out that a forward slip is the best way to achieve that. We also have independent ailerons that can be used as spoilers for an even faster descent.

> If I need to make a steep turn to avoid someone heading the wrong way on base is it going to let me?

yep! just push the stick full deflection. you'll feel the active stick fight back because it doesn't want to bank that steeply in normal flight, but you are in control of the plane and it will do anything you command up to it's aerodynamic and structural limits.

This is fascinating.

Other, smarter commenters will undoubtedly point out potential issues…but since I am a decidedly uninformed groundling, I hope you succeed.

Ambitious, complicated, probably-impossible challenges create space for the kind of projects which could actually change the world.

Sounds tough…good luck!

thanks! my hope is to eventually make you a well informed airling!

Presumably anyone who wants to fly this would still have to go through a traditional pilot qualification with an old-school plane? So this is actually targeting people who do fly airplanes, but want to be more comfortable and more able to focus on the navigation and general enjoyment of the air while reducing the actual risk of flying, rather than having to, as you put it, micromanage the aircraft. As someone who likes nothing better than to look out of the window of a passenger jet with the GPS and map on my phone in my hand to see where I am, and to know which geographical features are unravelling below, I kinda get it.