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Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

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Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#41

Post by JumpCrisscross »

mc32 wrote: post #8

It sounds interesting… But it’s one thing to try and win an existential war by any means necessary including downgrading safety, but I think it’s another thing when you intend to use this for civilian freight transportation. What’s the contingency for a snapped tow rope? Or electro/hydromechanical failure on either aircraft during take off or landing? One plane involved is plenty to handle; how do you handle two? Lig…

> What’s the contingency for a snapped tow rope?

Same as with a dead engine: fuck off to the nearest airstrip or improvise an air strip.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#42

Post by nradov »

crote wrote: post #9
schiffern wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>rail Wrong niche. This is in the same market as conventional air freight.

How much air freight really needs to be transferred by air, though? Air freight makes sense when you need to get something across an ocean in less than a month, or across the continent in less than a day. If the US were to invest in running the railroads efficiently, getting a package from NYC to LA in less than 72 hours should be possible - that's fast enough for regular Amazon shipping. If you electrify the railroa…

US freight rail companies have already invested heavily in efficiency and are now pretty much the most efficient in the world. What you seem to be asking for is a reduction in latency. You can't have both high efficiency and low latency: those metrics are in direct conflict with each other.

Trucks with team driving can already run coast to coast in about 3 days. This works fine for somewhat time sensitive loads.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#43

Post by angiosperm »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #39
mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a myth oft-repeated on HN. US freight rail does cheaply transport a lot of tonnage, but it is a shadow of its former self, after a half-century of digesting the investments of the past. It's squeezed out efficiency by running longer and slower trains (that exceed the length of the rail sidings!) transporting bulk goods on predictable schedules between fixed points (like grain and coal), while slashing routes…

> myth oft-repeated on HN. US freight rail does cheaply transport a lot of tonnage, but it is a shadow of its former self What is the myth? It is a shadow of its former self. But it retain its mantle of the 1850s as the world’s largest rail network.

The Russian empire's is larger by extent.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#44

Post by nradov »

mc32 wrote: post #11
ethagknight wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rail is phenomenally inefficient crossing oceans compared to air freight

Hmm, if we ever built the Alaska-Siberia overland railway connection (bridges + tunnels) it would become a possibility to make efficient from what is now an impossibility. It’s doable. Tunnels and bridges necessary would not be beyond what we have built elsewhere with current technology. The weather may be challenging in Winter though.

If there was actually demand for faster high-volume shipping between East Asia and North America then logistics companies would just buy faster ships. The technology for that already exists and is far cheaper than building a railroad tunnel across the Bering Strait. Shipyards are capable of building freighters with more hydrodynamic hulls and powerful turbine engines. So far no one is really asking for those, which indicates the market doesn't exist.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#45

Post by monero-xmr »

downrightmike wrote: post #2

What the US needs is to fix its rail system. eminent domain the whole thing, pay off the robber barons and just run it like it matters to get shit from here to there.

“Just 1 simple fix”

Hopefully they bulldoze your neighborhood first. Mine? I know my neighbors would wage war…

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#46

Post by nradov »

londons_explore wrote: post #33

If you're happy for your gliders to travel at 100 mph instead of 500 mph, you can glide almost fuel free, making use of thermals and winds most of the way. However, the finances for such a business are hard to make work since, while you save on fuel, your very expensive aircraft does fewer flights per year. The only way to make it work would be very cheap airframes, probably without humans aboard (meaning factors of…

Only sport gliders carrying a maximum of 2 people achieve those speeds fuel free. A large, heavy cargo glider carrying a full load is just going to crash without a tow rope, regardless of winds or thermals.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#47

Post by fragmede »

nradov wrote: post #44
mc32 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, if we ever built the Alaska-Siberia overland railway connection (bridges + tunnels) it would become a possibility to make efficient from what is now an impossibility. It’s doable. Tunnels and bridges necessary would not be beyond what we have built elsewhere with current technology. The weather may be challenging in Winter though.

If there was actually demand for faster high-volume shipping between East Asia and North America then logistics companies would just buy faster ships. The technology for that already exists and is far cheaper than building a railroad tunnel across the Bering Strait. Shipyards are capable of building freighters with more hydrodynamic hulls and powerful turbine engines. So far no one is really asking for those, which i…

it exists in the form of air freight, which is stupidly more expensive, but also stupidly faster. so there is a market, just apparently not one in-between.

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#49

Post by dreamcompiler »

Glyptodon wrote: post #29
downrightmike wrote: post #2

What the US needs is to fix its rail system. eminent domain the whole thing, pay off the robber barons and just run it like it matters to get shit from here to there.

Just add a few more gliders and it'll be a sky train.

If you go to their website you'll see several members of their senior leadership have railroad experience.

https://aerolane.com/company/

Re: Unpowered cargo gliders on tow ropes promise 65% cheaper air freight

#50

Post by KingOfCoders »

crote wrote: post #9
schiffern wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>rail Wrong niche. This is in the same market as conventional air freight.

How much air freight really needs to be transferred by air, though? Air freight makes sense when you need to get something across an ocean in less than a month, or across the continent in less than a day. If the US were to invest in running the railroads efficiently, getting a package from NYC to LA in less than 72 hours should be possible - that's fast enough for regular Amazon shipping. If you electrify the railroa…

I think freight trains in Europe are much faster than in the US, but also much shorter (though there are plans to make them a little longer) and lighter (no double-stacked containers). So they are more costly but you get stuff from A to B faster.

Electrified locomotives are better than diesel electric (e.g. an electric locomotive has 2x - 3x the power, ~6MW-9MW compared to ~3MW, so you need less locomotives, less moving parts means less maintenance etc.), but while it works in dense Europe, it's too costly to build and maintain cross US.

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