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This is really the worst externality of "flying cars," or whatever you want to call short-range commuter aircraft. In absence of some exotic propulsion technolo
by mortenjorck 8y ago
This is really the worst externality of "flying cars," or whatever you want to call short-range commuter aircraft. In absence of some exotic propulsion technology (what usually powers flying cars in science fiction), the amount of air that must be displaced to loft a vehicle carrying one to four people will always be orders of magnitude louder than a land vehicle.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoHelicopters are loud because the blades cross over the airframe and are powered by turbines. An electric multicopter based design could have significantly lower noise levels.
- binarymax 8y agoIf going by the noise emitted by your average consumer drone, and scaling it up, I think the opposite is probably true - it would be crazy loud.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoFew consumer level drones make any effort at noise reduction. Blade and shroud design can significantly impact noise production.
- stcredzero 8y agohttps://www.dronethusiast.com/what-are-the-best-silent-drone-choices-and-what-applications-are-they-good-for/ https://www.dronethusiast.com/what-are-the-best-silent-drone...
- 83 8y agoConsumer drones aren't really aiming for quiet though. My racing drones are very buzzy since the small 3-5in props are fast spinning to have quick reaction time. My heavy lift photography drone with its slow 12in props (aiming for efficiency) is way larger and much quieter.
- Robotbeat 8y agoSailplanes carry 2 people and can be launched almost without any noise at all using an electric winch (common in Europe). If you wanted to use this for commuting, just add a front electric sustainer to it. By the time the sustainer turns on, the aircraft is already pretty high altitude. It'd be just as quiet as a land vehicle due to the greater distance away from the hearer. but yeah, helicopters are likely to be fairly loud.
- quacked 8y agoYou're not a free flight aviator, are you? I don't mean to be rude, it's just that I've found that people who don't fly things are always much more optimistic and naive about the realities of air travel than actual pilots are. I'm not trying to sound snarky- I had the same level of optimism and bright ideas for the uses of air travel until I got an aerospace engineering degree and started flying hang gliders. Sailplanes wouldn't work for commuting because of, in order: 1. Difficulty of training 2. Pilot liability for accidents 3. Weather 4. Space required to take off and land
- amelius 8y ago1 could be handled by a full autopilot; perhaps it can make 2 a non-issue; and by planning aircraft landing and take off centrally, 4 could be dealt with as well.
- Toutou 8y agoAutonomous car: - drives pretty much on a plane - able to stop when confused - precise speed and direction control - stable (i.e. does not oscillate or slide) - uses the same environment (the actual road) for reference and "handling" (tire grip) - anyone with IQ > 70 can drive one Autonomous sailplane: - flies in 3D space with pitch, roll, yaw - has both MAX (Vne) and MIN (stall) speed, can't stop and wait - can't even stop descending (!) - HEAVILY influenced by wind and thermal conditions - pretty unstable, oscillates when upset - can not use ground as visual reference reliably - flying one is no joke even for a human, requires serious training Good luck with your full autopilot.
- gvurrdon 8y agoNoise was certainly a problem for this proposed inter-city transport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Rotodyne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Rotodyne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9633v6U0wo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9633v6U0wo