- #1
Lancelot59
- 646
- 1
Well I'm sure we've all heard of all these people who want to bring "flying for the masses", using these sorts of contraptions:
http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying1.jpg
I haven't finished getting my license yet, but I still have a fairly good understanding of what it takes to fly. The people who make these machines say they want to bring "flying to the people" where everyone is capable of owning an airplane as easily as a car. When I see these sorts of people, I can't help but think that these people are absolutely silly.
I go to this train of thought: think about every idiot you've ever seen on the road. The sorts of people who cut people off, drive on the sidewalk, don't pay attention, or just can't drive. Now put those people in control of an aircraft. There is a massive difference between flying and driving. Operating a car is relatively simple. You go left or right, forwards or backwards. If something goes wrong you can usually pull over. While flying you need to focus on a wide variety of tasks at the same time, all in three dimensions. If you get lazy gravity isn't forgiving.
I just don't see giving everybody the ability to fly ending well. There are tons of accidents that occur already, and most of the people involved in those are people who (at least in my interpretation) are fairly on the ball. Letting "everyone" fly is just asking for trouble.
Also, the aircraft they are proposing to use...well they've been approved, so they must fly. But how well do they fly? It doesn't really look like you'd get the best performance out of them. Plus like some ultralights, they likely wouldn't glide well. I've seen some ultralights that lost their engine, and quite literally dropped right out of the sky. The ability to glide gives you the ability to get your aircraft to ground in a somewhat controlled manner. These aircraft just seem a bit sketchy to me.
That's just my opinion. What do you guys think?
http://www.popsci.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying1.jpg
I haven't finished getting my license yet, but I still have a fairly good understanding of what it takes to fly. The people who make these machines say they want to bring "flying to the people" where everyone is capable of owning an airplane as easily as a car. When I see these sorts of people, I can't help but think that these people are absolutely silly.
I go to this train of thought: think about every idiot you've ever seen on the road. The sorts of people who cut people off, drive on the sidewalk, don't pay attention, or just can't drive. Now put those people in control of an aircraft. There is a massive difference between flying and driving. Operating a car is relatively simple. You go left or right, forwards or backwards. If something goes wrong you can usually pull over. While flying you need to focus on a wide variety of tasks at the same time, all in three dimensions. If you get lazy gravity isn't forgiving.
I just don't see giving everybody the ability to fly ending well. There are tons of accidents that occur already, and most of the people involved in those are people who (at least in my interpretation) are fairly on the ball. Letting "everyone" fly is just asking for trouble.
Also, the aircraft they are proposing to use...well they've been approved, so they must fly. But how well do they fly? It doesn't really look like you'd get the best performance out of them. Plus like some ultralights, they likely wouldn't glide well. I've seen some ultralights that lost their engine, and quite literally dropped right out of the sky. The ability to glide gives you the ability to get your aircraft to ground in a somewhat controlled manner. These aircraft just seem a bit sketchy to me.
That's just my opinion. What do you guys think?