3 ms·

Where do you think the term autopilot came from? ;) Smaller planes means more crowded airspace. I bet the permits will be the biggest obstacle. How would you p

by graphe 3y ago

Where do you think the term autopilot came from? ;) Smaller planes means more crowded airspace. I bet the permits will be the biggest obstacle. How would you price these? It would be hilarious if small planes took over instead of high speed rail. I could see cheaper helicopters being popular.

unglaublich 3y ago
Oh, wouldn't it be hi· lar· i· ous to see 250 gCO2eq/km/person domestic flights overtake 4 gCO2eq/km/person rail... and the numbers for helicopters are even worse! https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint
- graphe 3y ago
  I'm wondering if helicopter pads make a big difference or if they're taking off from the ground. Sky bridges, underground walkways, or trams could be used in highly congested areas, but the US lacks long term planning, and can't into 3D space.
aeternum 3y ago
Airspace is used very inefficiently right now. With today's tech it's ridiculous we're still using primarily human vision for collision avoidance in most conditions, and in instrument conditions, spacing is typically 3nm. If you mostly have maneuverable VTOLs or even with more automated systems on traditional planes, you could safely bring down that spacing considerably. Imagine if we required cars on the highway to keep even a 1 mile spacing/following distance and then complained about highway congestion.
- Nzen 3y ago
  Perhaps the distance requirements reflect airplane wakes, rather than collision avoidance [0]. Analagously, I don't like to follow cars closely on wet roads, given the plume of side spray [1]. [0] https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_4.html https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html... subsection 7-4-9, titled Air Traffic Wake Turbulence Separations [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1-btUcMiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1-btUcMiA 20 seconds long
  - aeternum 3y ago
    Wake turbulence is mostly a concern for small planes following large planes. In the right conditions (pilots visually maintaining separation), planes do get quite close and at many airports like SFO, it's the only way to accommodate all the scheduled flights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLCcxCdrL5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLCcxCdrL5w
- mminer237 3y ago
  > spacing is typically 3nm For anyone else not that familiar with aviation and very confused, this means three nautical miles—about 3½ regular miles, not that it's smaller than a transistor fin.
- jjav 3y ago
  > Imagine if we required cars on the highway to keep even a 1 mile spacing Distance doesn't matter, what matters is time. Planes traveling at say 500 knots obviously need more safety margin distance than cars traveling an order of magnitude slower.
vlovich123 3y ago
I mean learning to fly a plane is about the price of a car and the rental price is ~200/hr. You can use it really for recreational purposes only because it can only transit between certain places & it seats 2 people. That really puts it into the expensive hobby category. If you had autopilot remove the need to learn to fly the thing and provide for increased density of air space + figure out how to let aviation vehicles takeoff and land more flexibly, it would become the commute option of choice for more people (it would still be quite pricy due to fuel costs but you’d see way more of them)

by graphe 3y ago

unglaublich 3y ago

Oh, wouldn't it be hi· lar· i· ous to see 250 gCO2eq/km/person domestic flights overtake 4 gCO2eq/km/person rail... and the numbers for helicopters are even worse! https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint

graphe 3y ago
I'm wondering if helicopter pads make a big difference or if they're taking off from the ground. Sky bridges, underground walkways, or trams could be used in highly congested areas, but the US lacks long term planning, and can't into 3D space.

aeternum 3y ago

Airspace is used very inefficiently right now. With today's tech it's ridiculous we're still using primarily human vision for collision avoidance in most conditions, and in instrument conditions, spacing is typically 3nm. If you mostly have maneuverable VTOLs or even with more automated systems on traditional planes, you could safely bring down that spacing considerably. Imagine if we required cars on the highway to keep even a 1 mile spacing/following distance and then complained about highway congestion.

Nzen 3y ago
Perhaps the distance requirements reflect airplane wakes, rather than collision avoidance [0]. Analagously, I don't like to follow cars closely on wet roads, given the plume of side spray [1]. [0] https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_4.html https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html... subsection 7-4-9, titled Air Traffic Wake Turbulence Separations [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1-btUcMiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1-btUcMiA 20 seconds long
- aeternum 3y ago
  Wake turbulence is mostly a concern for small planes following large planes. In the right conditions (pilots visually maintaining separation), planes do get quite close and at many airports like SFO, it's the only way to accommodate all the scheduled flights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLCcxCdrL5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLCcxCdrL5w
mminer237 3y ago
> spacing is typically 3nm For anyone else not that familiar with aviation and very confused, this means three nautical miles—about 3½ regular miles, not that it's smaller than a transistor fin.
jjav 3y ago
> Imagine if we required cars on the highway to keep even a 1 mile spacing Distance doesn't matter, what matters is time. Planes traveling at say 500 knots obviously need more safety margin distance than cars traveling an order of magnitude slower.

vlovich123 3y ago

I mean learning to fly a plane is about the price of a car and the rental price is ~200/hr. You can use it really for recreational purposes only because it can only transit between certain places & it seats 2 people. That really puts it into the expensive hobby category. If you had autopilot remove the need to learn to fly the thing and provide for increased density of air space + figure out how to let aviation vehicles takeoff and land more flexibly, it would become the commute option of choice for more people (it would still be quite pricy due to fuel costs but you’d see way more of them)