Then we have the endless attacks on GA airports, spearheaded by corrupt local politicians and the developers who own them. The big money and small-time land speculators (in the form of fake NIMBYs) team up to lobby against and destroy small airports everywhere. While most people will say they support their local airport (or are at least neutral toward it), they are not the ones who take a day off work to vote in their local kangaroo-council election. The special interests and the developers DO.
The FAA has ominously abandoned its duty as steward of our aviation infrastructure in some cases, notably Santa Monica, CA. In an illegal, back-room deal whose terms have never been uncovered, lame-duck FAA administrator Michael Huerta sold out the entire aviation community and ceded federal land to a historically corrupt Santa Monica city council and allowed the destruction of a public airport... unless the public can be persuaded to defend it in the next few years.
There is no point to aviation advancements when there's no place to fly. We all love to laugh at how corrupt other countries are; but people: We're there. All of these "freedoms" Americans hang their hats on are being stolen by private interests forever. You will never see another general-aviation airport built. When they're destroyed, part of our national transportation infrastructure is gone forever. And what these innovators are trying to do becomes moot.