Launch HN: Airhart Aeronautics (YC S22) – A modern personal airplane • Hacker News Board

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

#521

Post by bluGill » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:24 PM UTC

callalex wrote: post #280

amluto wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm going to be calling my local government representatives to raise it back up by two with taxes and fees. Sometimes I think this sort of approach is why so many people on the right are sick of global warming. Sure, global warming is a serious problem, but that doesn't mean that taxing things you don't like is wise, fair, effective, or in any other respect a good idea. If you have a problem with emission of gasses…

Burning fossil fuels is the problem. We can argue until the cows come home about things like plastic straws and bags, but the fact is that burning fossil fuels is rapidly destroying the planet and no amount of burning is sustainable. Banning that is table stakes.

Don't talk about banning, talk about giving people a good alternate. Fix zoning so that people don't have to move so far out just to afford a nice place to live (people who want a hobby farm will have to live that far out, but many in the suburbs would be happy with a 5 bedroom apartment for a similar monthly costs - but none exist). Build good transit so that people have a reasonable option to driving.

If you want to ban fueles you just attack people's way of life. If you want to provide the things I list you don't need to ban fuel as they will switch to not driving.

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

#522

Post by bluGill » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:27 PM UTC

ggreer wrote: post #277

duped wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't want to make a snarky, unabashadly NIMBY comment until I read this response. For every dollar you lower barrier to entry in aviation, I'm going to be calling my local government representatives to raise it back up by two with taxes and fees. The solutions to environmental problems aren't to grow markets with technology we know is bad so we have the money to make it less bad. The solution is to make it so exp…

We already have prototype electric aircraft. As battery costs decrease and battery performance improves, it makes perfect sense that aircraft will electrify. The reason for this is economical, not environmental. Electricity is cheaper than fuel, and maintenance for electric vehicles tends to be less than their combustion equivalents. Both of these factors mean that once the batteries become cheap enough, cost per pas…

The laws of chemistry that govern batteries and fossil fuels are known very well. We will never get batteries anywhere near as light weight as a liquid fuel. Sure the battery/motor is much more efficient, but not anywhere close to enough to make up for the massive energy/weight advantage liquid fuels.

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

#523

Post by BWStearns » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:28 PM UTC

callalex wrote: post #283

BWStearns wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most of my trips in small planes are pretty point to point. The airports I've used have been between 1 and 5 miles from my house and most of my destinations were similarly close (I just checked one destination and it was 200 meters).

Not sure where you're from but airport density in the US is incredibly high thanks to WWII and Cold War leftover infrastructure (and a fairly robust GA culture up through the 80s). People just don't notice their little local airports unless they fly.

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

#524

Post by EncomLab » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:36 PM UTC

jay-barronville wrote: post #515

EncomLab wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered that a significant number of companies that are presented - in good faith - as revolutionary startups that will open aviation to the masses are just investment schemes? I understand that they are pushing forward with this venture and are actively seeking investments "despite the hurdles" - what is your play in this?

> Have you considered that a significant number of companies that are presented - in good faith - as revolutionary startups that will open aviation to the masses are just investment schemes? So you’re suggesting that Airhart is just engaged in an investment scheme? Do you have any evidence to support that?

Have you heard of occam's razor? Time will tell - in the meantime what you chose to believe and what I chose to believe are equally worthless opinions.

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

#525

Post by rangestransform » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:42 PM UTC

bluerooibos wrote: post #424

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…

Absolutely agree. Really quite tired of living in a country which focuses on individualised transport and car centric infrastructure. It's an absolute delight to get around in a country like Japan where I don't have to rely on a car at all.

At least for me, getting around by train in Japan is preferable because of how convenient and fast it is, not because of any inherent advantage of public transport, and definitely not because I want to bear a cross for the greater good of society. Japanese society also contributes to how pleasant public transit is there, in comparison to the dregs of society that use NYC public transit.

If I could have a 300kph autonomous pod that keeps me air-conditioned from my door to my destination's door, that would be preferable to even the proposed Chuo maglev train. Similarly, if individual transport can close the convenience gap with public transport, I would prefer individual transport instead.

I will say that I vastly prefer urban environments that deprioritize cars; I often find that even private cars work better in those environments than in car-dependent cities. Of course, it's always better to be one of the first exploiters in a tragedy of the commons situation.

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

#526

Post by nullindividual » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

sdeframond wrote: post #431

> The problem is that small airplane technology hasn’t innovated and is stuck in the past. Flying a small airplane is complicated, mentally taxing, and dangerous—about 28x more dangerous than driving a car. I am surprised you don't mention fuel efficiency. Flying a small airplane is much less efficient than driving a car, especially on shorter trips due to take off and landing. And cars are already burning too much f…

No mention of pollution and some lip service to a "green future" because pollution is irrelevant for this type of individual who Just Doesn't Care about the environment they live in -- who would, when you can have VC money flying up your rear? Screw everyone else, he's got his!

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

#527

Post by qsdf38100 » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 2:56 PM UTC

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…

Note that one of Elon's goal with the whole hyperloop nonsense was precisely to divert investment from high-speed rail so that it wouldn't compete with "full self driving" cars.

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

#528

Post by stronglikedan » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 3:01 PM UTC

erellsworth wrote: post #486

>Freedom of Flight for Everyone >*The full price of the Airhart Sling pre-tax is $500,000 with availability predicted for January of 2026. "Everyone" is quite a stretch. It's hard for me to see this as anything but a new toy for rich people.

Or just people that work hard for what they want. Besides, you don't have to own one to use one. Lot's of folks can fly a plane without owning a plane.

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

#529

Post by nullindividual » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 3:02 PM UTC

authorfly wrote: post #498

My positive encouragement to your success. Personally, I believe in a futuristic vision of transport like this for 50-300 miles, trains for 3-150 miles, and bicycles and ebikes for It may seem unrealistic, but just visit the Netherlands, or visit the airports around the UK and Western Europe. It's ridiculously cheap to get around by bike, and healthier. Yes not all or even most environments are not suitable for cycli…

> It may seem unrealistic

Yes, it is unrealistic for the North American continent as our population is spread out today.

> Wouldn't we all benefit from distributing people more widely

No, this is antithetical to the protection of the environment. Concentration of population is far healthier for not only individuals (reduction or elimination of polluting personal transport; potentially walk-able locations), but for the environment, as well. Spreading people out creates a far larger impact and necessitates, as you can see in North America, the use of individual transportation and all of the support services that transportation requires, as well as the human requires (more city govt, more FD, more police, more sewage treatment, more... everything).

The op is on the path to produce a vehicle that dumps far greater amounts of pollution into the atmosphere than modern cars do. Whatever environmental "vision" the op has is pure greenwashing. Plainly, it's an outright lie.

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

#530

Post by lovecg » Tue, Aug 06, 2024, 3:10 PM UTC

danielschonfeld wrote: post #446

lovecg wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes a lot of sense, interested to learn more about this, any statistics you’re aware of on this topic?

I don’t have those I’m sorry. Not that much into it. If you need a better understanding look for a video of a pilot I think in South Africa or Australia who took a cameraman and his wife and stalled shortly after takeoff. It’s interesting to see how many warning signs throughout the whole video are glaring at him yet he keeps flying all the way into the crash. What’s also interesting is that that’s it. Just warning s…

Thanks, by the way if that’s the same video I’m thinking of the problem there was gross incompetence - he tied the door wide open to the wing strut!

Another piece of statistics I recently learned is that most stalls occur on departure or go arounds, and classic base to final are relatively rare. Maybe those have been successfully trained out.