I don't understand how the market for this will be large enough to justify the investment. Let's determine our market size by the process of elimination: - Ex

I don't understand how the market for this will be large enough to justify the investment. Let's determine our market size by the process of elimination: - Executives who value their time can't justify this. You have to fly it yourself, so you can't use the trip to get work done. And, you have to become a pilot, another time drain. Furthermore, the range is an issue compared to even the least costly business jets -- more time drain. And, even though Eclipse is shutting down, there's a new class of cheaper biz jets available for rental/frac ownership. - A guy who likes to fly on weekends for fun. Why pay more for a more complex system that you don't need? Just buy a used single-engine Cessna for $40K. At least the maintenance cost structure is known. Another article I read (can't remember where) cited the benefit of being able to land at a regional airport and drive to your meeting. Never mind that the FBOs all have rental car agencies. [And, they'll drive your car out to the plane to meet you!] Great, you bought an expensive contraption to save $30 in rental costs. Oh yeah, you can also drive your plane home if the weather is bad! So, your market is now the intersection of people who can afford $200K aircraft and those who don't value their time (biz jets can fly in much more extreme weather conditions than this thing). So, what's left? The niche markets described in the article. A vineyard owner who wants to visit his land. Early adopters. I don't see how the overall market can exceed a few thousand units. Would this be interesting to people outside the US? Rich people in under-developed countries? In these cases, one would think that the ability to drive the plane would be of little interest -- no good roads, therefore no need to drive. You'd probably want to buy designed for short, dirt runways,