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

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

#341

Post by b-side »

philwelch wrote: post #320
epolanski wrote: post #239

It's insane the length we go as humans (in the US at least) to not invest in the easiest, most cost-effective and environmentally friendly mode of transportation: trains. Hyperloops, wider and wider highways, now personal airplanes. Anything but goddamn trains. It's mental to me. Wish the best to the startup, after all they are filling a void someone else would, but still, not happy with the direction transport is go…

Trains are for freight, and they are exceedingly good at it.

Indeed, trains for passengers can only work for tiny low-population countries like China and Japan.

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

#342

Post by oblio »

Aeolun wrote: post #336
sethkim wrote: post #83

Instrument-rated pilot (and engineer) here. First - congrats on the launch! I think you're working on an interesting set of components that will prove useful to GA aircraft technology. Bringing fly-by-wire, and lowering the cost of maintenance/manufacturing are both great efforts. That being said, my personal view is that stick-and-rudder control is one of the less critical components to improving GA safety. Everythi…

I find it really hard to understand how we have solved this problem on the ground (e.g. roads), when in the sky we have nearly 100x more space (assuming 100m altitude bands), but we manage to have so many issues.

We haven't solved this on the ground. We just accept that 1 million people die in car crashes each year and something like 10 million sustain serious injuries that leave them scarred for life. Also many that die and are injured are NOT the culprits, they're just innocent bystanders. We also destroy property constantly with cars and suffer from horrible congestion everywhere.

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

#343

Post by serial_dev »

sethkim wrote: post #83

Instrument-rated pilot (and engineer) here. First - congrats on the launch! I think you're working on an interesting set of components that will prove useful to GA aircraft technology. Bringing fly-by-wire, and lowering the cost of maintenance/manufacturing are both great efforts. That being said, my personal view is that stick-and-rudder control is one of the less critical components to improving GA safety. Everythi…

> but I'm not super excited about the idea of lowering the barrier to entry for GA on a foundational skill basis. Like the 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

By that logic, shouldn't we make driving cars as dangerous, complicated, inaccesible, and confusing as possible?

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

#344

Post by aeternum »

nradov wrote: post #295
aeternum wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right but I don't know of any GA stall/spin warning system that takes into account pilot input. Even simple sensors are lacking, for example accelerometers are nearly free yet GA planes give you no warning that you're in a skid. Similarly given yoke input, bank angle and speed you could warn of an impending stall well before it actually happens with a few position encoder sensors. As you point out, the current system…

Civilian drones are fairly new. There are century old GA aircraft still flying around. I'm sure the FAA would love to require them all to carry radios and transponders but it's technically and politically difficult to impose new requirements on old certified aircraft. Some owners can barely afford to fly as it is so they'll resist any new mandates.

This is a common argument but makes little sense because the accident and loss rates of GA is so incredibly high. The cost of an ADS-B receiver for example is only $200. Full transceivers are a few thousand.

Aircraft owners are already paying well over that as insurance rates yearly because of all the accidents, so total cost to fly would likely decrease by mandating things that actually move the needle on safety, especially ADS-B and fuel alerts.

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

#345

Post by CalRobert »

stetrain wrote: post #119
CalRobert wrote: post #102

Earlier 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…

> 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 fly him and his suitcase over the capitol corridor tracks. They might be more willing to try if the service prices included the cost of the associated emissions.

Certainly!

It would also help if there were integrated ticketing the way there is in, say, Germany. If you buy a plane and a train ticket and miss a connection then you eat the cost of the ticket. Even better would be if luggage were integrated, but that would be asking for a lot more annoying security on trains I think.

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

#346

Post by kbar13 »

serial_dev wrote: post #343
sethkim wrote: post #83

Instrument-rated pilot (and engineer) here. First - congrats on the launch! I think you're working on an interesting set of components that will prove useful to GA aircraft technology. Bringing fly-by-wire, and lowering the cost of maintenance/manufacturing are both great efforts. That being said, my personal view is that stick-and-rudder control is one of the less critical components to improving GA safety. Everythi…

> but I'm not super excited about the idea of lowering the barrier to entry for GA on a foundational skill basis. Like the 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 By that logic, shouldn't we make driving cars as dangerous, complicated, inaccesible, and confusing as possible?

its pretty easy to drive a car. press pedal car go vroom turn wheel car go right

not the same for flying a plane

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

#347

Post by Aeolun »

throwaway_ab wrote: post #334

A few thoughts: - Enable fall back controls where the pilot can input "traditional" controls when the more advanced system is degraded, even though it's all fly by wire their should still be inputs that fully mimic a traditional cockpit and ability to use this system should be allowed if the pilot requires it. - Drop any focus or marketing on getting more people flying, if the ease of use of your aircraft is such tha…

> if the ease of use of your aircraft is such that pilots who otherwise would not be qualified to fly now can fly, this is a recipe for disaster.

How does that work? If they’re now qualified to fly then clearly they meet the standards set out for that. It could be argued that if they meet those standards but would be a danger to themselves and others in a different plane, it’s still a net win.

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

#348

Post by Aeolun »

TylerE wrote: post #212
nikitaga wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It feels like the real problem in this industry is lack of competition. There’s a chicken and egg problem: planes are expensive because so few people buy them, but so few people buy them because they’re expensive. Lack of competition is not the root cause. It's all the regulations. Certifying a new GA airplane takes a lot of time, and costs a fortune. This translates to high development costs, and certification cos…

One key difference I see between something like this and an ultralight is the danger to people on the ground. A few thousand pounds moving at up to 200mph or so (potentially 300+ after structural failure) is a lot of kinetic energy.

I’m fairly certain there’s little difference between being hit by a 2 ton car going at 100mph and a 4 ton aircraft going at 200mph. Either way you splatter.

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

#349

Post by edm0nd »

throwup238 wrote: post #267
AdrianB1 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CIWS maybe be the next standard feature on premium grills, ammo not included.

A CIWS probably doesn’t have enough stopping power for a GA aircraft so the burning wreckage will still crash into you. Need to go full AA gun, 12 DD stamps included with your purchase.

A DShK mounted in the bed of a Toyota truck and call it a day.

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

#350

Post by imoverclocked »

throwaway_ab wrote: post #334

A few thoughts: - Enable fall back controls where the pilot can input "traditional" controls when the more advanced system is degraded, even though it's all fly by wire their should still be inputs that fully mimic a traditional cockpit and ability to use this system should be allowed if the pilot requires it. - Drop any focus or marketing on getting more people flying, if the ease of use of your aircraft is such tha…

If you watch the video, they are advertising two inputs: a stick (which doesn't act like a stick) and a speed suggestion (not actually a throttle.) If the system were to suddenly degrade to standard inputs, it could be confusing and potentially lethal.

I don't think this is a system for pilots. This is a system for ... someone else.

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