United Airlines plans to buy 200 flying electric taxis within the next five years

[eagle2]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56020650

[Eric Stoner]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56020650

I'll wait until they get all the bugs out.

[Raziel]

I'm not getting on that thing. Fuck that!

[Eric Stoner]

I'm not getting on that thing. Fuck that!

ALERT The Media ! We agree ! Can World Peace be far behind ?

[Bahuba]

When I'm reading about this, my eye is scanning for the words "redundant" and "fail-safe". I want to see those words a lot before I will set foot in one of these.

[Raziel]

How about "Tested" or "safe." I'm not getting on a flying car, HELL no.

[eagle2]

I'll wait until they get all the bugs out.

I would hope they do that before bringing them into service.

[Raziel]

I'll be the 2,000,000th person that rides in one of these.

They need self driving cars before flying ones.

[indiegirl]

People can barely handle driving normal cars with all the accidents we see. Wasn't there a 130 car pileup in Dallas Fort Worth a few days ago? I used to want a flying vehicle but when you think about the wild things people do just on the ground...NAHHHHH. I'm not ready lolllll.

[Eric Stoner]

I would hope they do that before bringing them into service.

You want to bet ? How many recalls have we witnessed for cars and vans just in the last ten years ?

[Eric Stoner]

People can barely handle driving normal cars with all the accidents we see. Wasn't there a 130 car pileup in Dallas Fort Worth a few days ago? I used to want a flying vehicle but when you think about the wild things people do just on the ground...NAHHHHH. I'm not ready lolllll.

Yeah. Great point. You would need a driver's license AND a pilot's license. Instead of just driver inattention and road rage now we'll have pilot inattention and air rage ! Plus alcohol, pot and testosterone. Three big factors in causing roadway accidents.

[CFMNH44]

People can barely handle driving normal cars with all the accidents we see. Wasn't there a 130 car pileup in Dallas Fort Worth a few days ago? I used to want a flying vehicle but when you think about the wild things people do just on the ground...NAHHHHH. I'm not ready lolllll.

Obviously we'll need great self-driving / flying software, although I pretty much disagree with the premise, at least how companies are presenting it in commercials: Driver dad almost pulls into path of an oncoming vehicle, breathes a sigh of relief that car stops him from doing something stupid, glances at his kids in back seat. How about being a responsible driver?

[eagle2]

You want to bet ? How many recalls have we witnessed for cars and vans just in the last ten years ?

The FAA has much stricter regulations for aircraft, than there are for cars.

[eagle2]

Yeah. Great point. You would need a driver's license AND a pilot's license. Instead of just driver inattention and road rage now we'll have pilot inattention and air rage ! Plus alcohol, pot and testosterone. Three big factors in causing roadway accidents.

Flying taxis will most likely have autopilots, so alcohol, pot and testosterone won't affect their safety.

[Raziel]

Flying taxis will most likely have autopilots, so alcohol, pot and testosterone won't affect their safety.

Well, Bro, they better. Some yahoo might not be a natural born pilot. But I'm still not getting in one. I'll stay on the ground, thanks. I don't really like flying to begin with.

[indiegirl]

Flying taxis will most likely have autopilots, so alcohol, pot and testosterone won't affect their safety.

there’s no way I’d be in one...they still haven’t mastered the Tesla and people getting in accidents from it. I’m not willing to fly into a building due to it malfunctioning lollll

I also don’t get how it would be financially worth it if you had to have a pilot license and making the same money as an Uber? Is United going to be paying for these workers tuition?

[AChildOfBoredom]

But are they actually fun to ride in? Why does everyone skip over the important part?

[Raziel]

But are they actually fun to ride in? Why does everyone skip over the important part?

Because it's NOT fun! It's "Oh SHIT."

[AChildOfBoredom]

Because it's NOT fun! It's "Oh SHIT."

Life without risk isn’t worth living.

[Raziel]

Life without risk isn’t worth living.

I can risk something else, like juggling fire, or climbing mount Everest. I do not like flying. Unfortunately, I'm stuck doing it all the time. I know I beat this into the ground all the time, but my publisher is in New York City and sometimes they want to talk to me face to face.

[Zofia]

Garmin, Piper and Cirrus have an autopilot out with two airplanes, the Piper M600 and the Cirrus Jet that have auto-land capabilty for the 2021 models. Autoland is for pilot incapcitation. The autopilot, once alerted to pilot incapacitation, or unwillingness to fly and land, will handle the landing. The Garmin autopilot will check the weather, winds, temperatures. fuel load, aircraft performance, runway lengths and direction. Then, it will select a runway to land at. (Not necessarily the destination.) It will inform Air Traffic Control by text messsage throught a system called ADS/B and proceed to the selected runway and land. Using engine power, reversing if necessary and braking, the autopilot will bring the airplane to a stop and audibly instruct the passengers to evacuate.

Very cool technology for the single pilot world! Not terribly relevant to the multi-pilot world. However, there are much older/lower tech auto-land systems that will land the airplane once the pilots line it up with the runway and select the proper landing aids. (Localizer and Glideslope.) Category III Autoland is nice for really bad weather as it takes most of the human error out of the landing. Autopilots do much of the enroute flying, leaving the pilots to monitor and manage. Autothrottles of various designs will handle most of the engine controling from takeoff to shutdown with only a few pilot inputs. This makes new jets fly more efficiently and lower the workload in the cockpit. Airline and corporate pilots are mostly managers of the flight now. They usually do alternate landings with eachother though.

Weaving all this technology together to automate the entire process is the next phase in aviation. I think the Garmin/Piper/Cirus system is great for small flight departments that have a tough time keeping co-pilots on staff. But, it's not true self-flying. Just safer for the single pilot. I expect to see a lot of movement toward self-flying aircraft just as with self-driving cars and probably busses too. The system in my Lexus is amazing! It still requires me to be there and monitor. But, it does a great job of avoiding crashes, lane keeping, and cruise control. It's good in stop and go traffic, but not so great in just city driving with little traffic. (I love the cross track warning though at intersections. One more layer of safety.)

[eagle2]

there’s no way I’d be in one...they still haven’t mastered the Tesla and people getting in accidents from it. I’m not willing to fly into a building due to it malfunctioning lollll

I also don’t get how it would be financially worth it if you had to have a pilot license and making the same money as an Uber? Is United going to be paying for these workers tuition?

They won't have human pilots. They'll have auto-pilot.

Tesla has come pretty far with self-drive.

[MissAdriana]

This thing looks like an open helicopter? Looks like it would be so loud to ride in. They need to make what they have in westworld LOL

[eagle2]

This thing looks like an open helicopter? Looks like it would be so loud to ride in. They need to make what they have in westworld LOL

I'm not sure what that's a photo of, but the article says they'll be buying from Archer. I think it's going to look like this:





Here's the article:
https://robbreport.com/motors/aviati...is-1234596090/

[eagle2]

Archer is scheduled to start their flying taxi service in Miami in 2024.

https://statescoop.com/miami-archer-...ical-airports/