It will cost only around $60,000.
GyroDrive - I want one
- Thread starter WeToddDid2
- Start date
It will cost only around $60,000.
You'll only be wondering until it hits the ground
And then they'll be crashing in my back yard. You think idiots on the ground drive poorly? Wait until they're flying around in all their stupidity.
Sign me up for the ground-to-air home missile battery sales.
Auto-gyro's have been around since the early 1920's, they predate helicopters. That's a long "experimental phase"!
Having spent many years in charge of maintaining fleets of helicopters, I can tell you the the primary disadvantage of anything with a rotating wing is the maintenance overhead and susceptibility to damage. You spend dozens of hours of maintenance per flight hour on a rotary wing aircraft, not something that translates to commuter cars.
And that doesn't even start to address the fallacy of "anyone can fly". It's true that on a sunny, calm day in a simple aircraft I could have you "flying" with a few minutes instruction and can program a computer to do the same. Now add a nice bit of turbulent wind, well that's a few dozen hours of practice landings in similar conditions before you can consider yourself safe at that. How about some cloud and fog thrown in, another few dozen hours or so for basic proficiency. Flying in convective activity, well you're going to die if you try that so a few dozen hours of meteorology to ensure you don't get in those conditions. Want to interact with a bunch of other aircraft in a busy environment, another few dozen hours. Want to fly in mountainous terrain, another few dozen hours. Want to be able to deal with an emergency or mechanical failure, dozens more hours. And that's just initial training, you also need to practice all these things regularly or you won't be able to perform when the real thing happens. None of this is going away at all because you have the latest cool gadget. When people figure out how to take care of these issues, we all fly Jetsons cars to work. Until then, not so much.
Auto-gyros are cool. If you want to learn to fly one I highly encourage it, you'll have a blast. Just don't expect to be commuting in it after a couple hours training.
I was only referring to the price of the technology, not who will be using it. After all, with the advance in science, they'd be able to build them from cheaper, stronger materials and in a more automated way. Or at least that's the best case scenario.
As for the actual pilots, I completely agree with you. So many people can't be trusted not to cause a mess on the roads, what's left when they have to be trusted to control a vehicle in the air.
As for the actual pilots, I completely agree with you. So many people can't be trusted not to cause a mess on the roads, what's left when they have to be trusted to control a vehicle in the air.