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4 Big Problems with Flying Cars Few Are Thinking About
- daly 9y agoThe fundamental issue with flying cars will be get-there-itis, the need to get to the destination. This kills amateur pilots. FAA rules require fuel minimums so that if your destination cannot be reached then an alternate destination can be reached plus 45 minutes of additional fuel. People will commute with absolute minimum charge because "they have to get to that meeting". FAA rules require vertical and horizontal separation for safety. Car drivers will cut you off without so much as a blinker at 70 MPH on a rain- or snow-slick road. Manual over-ride will cause havoc. FAA rules require certification to land in specified minimum weather such as fog. A fog situation at a landing site can close it very quickly. Moisture tends to interfere with communication (listen to your radio and note how it fade in rain) so there will be issues of loss of GPS / coordination / inter-vehicle contact. Vertical landing is fine in windless conditions. But gusting winds or microburst will exceed the control of these crafts quickly. "Vertical Landing" is going to take on a whole new meaning when your battery dies and these kinds of batteries tend to die rapidly when they reach their energy limit. It would make more sense to require that these flying cars be required to land on water. Then you could have a lake that could handle many planes with marked taxiways to the landing location. The construction is quicker, requires less material, is easier to site, survives crashed vehicles, and adapts to wind conditions. It doesn't even have to be deep, a meter or two maximum.