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China calls it the low-altitude economy, and besides human transportation there is a lot that can be done. Personally, I believe that propeller-driven devices a
by ph4rsikal 10mo ago
China calls it the low-altitude economy, and besides human transportation there is a lot that can be done. Personally, I believe that propeller-driven devices are too dangerous and noisy, but there might be innovations coming out of China that Europe can't
- bethekidyouwant 10mo agoEverything that flies is driven with a loud dangerous spinning thing (propeller)
- nandomrumber 10mo agoBirds.
- tsimionescu 10mo agoBird flight doesn't scale significantly. You can deliver very small objects via bird, and perhaps build a bird-like drone that does the same. But you can't build a human-carrying bird.
- fc417fc802 10mo agoWe haven't figured out how to scale it _yet_.
- tsimionescu 10mo agoIt's very possible, and in fact most likely, that it can't scale. Insect flight is an even better example - the mechanisms that allow most insects to fly simply don't work past a few grams of weight. So, it is simply impossible to create an insect-like drone that can carry a human. I expect the exact same is true for birds - the kinds of effects that allow birds to fly with so little energy compared to a propeller-based aircraft are almost certainly not scalable, due to the fundamental properties of air as a gas. As far as I know, bird flight is made possible by complex turbulence effects induced by the microscopic structure of their feathers. It's very unlikely this effect could skale to 100kg of weight.
- antipurist 10mo agoHuman-carrying birds have been built. Piloted ornithopter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qS7oN-3tA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qS7oN-3tA Human-powered ornithopter: https://youtu.be/0E77j1imdhQ?si=Dd5hLla27Pz8gJNe&t=100 https://youtu.be/0E77j1imdhQ?si=Dd5hLla27Pz8gJNe&t=100 Also, Quetzalcoatlus northropi could've been powerful enough to carry a human.
- shtzvhdx 10mo agoThat's not a bird. Thats an airplane flapping its wings.
- meindnoch 10mo agoCould work for delivering high-value low-weight items, like illicit drugs. Not much else.