Take a Harrier, make it a drone, electric, smaller, add passengers, and fly Tampa/Miami

AlexDaGator

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Jet-Powered Flying Taxi Startup To Develop Hubs Across Florida

Jet-Powered Flying Taxi Startup To Develop Hubs Across Florida

The world’s first all-electric vertical takeoff passenger jet could start operations from boutique hubs across Florida in coming years.
...
The company says the pay-per-ride services will be emission-free, five times faster than a car, and produce less noise than a motorbike. The aircraft’s battery will have a 300-kilometer (186-mile) range; it can operate with a pilot or in drone mode. A first test flight took place in May 2019. Once the service is up and running, Lilium expects a short connection between, say, John F. Kennedy International Airport, in Queens, NY, and Manhattan would cost about the same as a top-end limousine service.

The aircraft, powered by 36 jet engines that swivel after takeoff to provide forward flight in the manner of a standard plane, uses 10% of the energy of multi-rotor drones used in helicopter technology. The savings should allow the craft to fly longer distances, overcoming some of the range issues that are seen as a major obstacle to electric-powered planes. The model has no tail, no rudder, no gearbox and only one moving part in the engine, features, Lilium says, that make the craft safer.


Alex.
 

AlexDaGator

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The thing works kinda like an Osprey but with electric motors.

So the first thing that occurs to me is what the F is an electric powered jet???

I'm guessing it's not a jet at all, at least not what we think of as a jet (no combustion to create expanding gasses, although this thing is moved along by a "jet" of air creating thrust).

Looks like the electric motors turn turbines (say that 3 times fast) instead of traditional propellers. Like a traditional jet, the air is compressed but instead of being mixed with fuel and ignited something else happens and the compressed air is forced out creating the thrust.

Interesting concept.

Alex.
 

Zambo

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Sounds like ducted fans, which are basically propellers inside of a tube. Lots of RC model planes use these things nowadays.

The problem with "flying cars" has always been the same. Its not the building of the vehicle itself. Heck we've had flying cars since the 50s. They're called helicopters. The problem is airspace. People envision that the "big sky, little bullet" theory of safety will prevail somehow without regulation, but it won't. These things have to deconflict with each other, avoid airspace that is used by other aircraft, avoid flying right over people, houses, etc at low altitudes, and a laundry list of other deconfliction problems. Easy to do when you're the only vehicle in the sky, like today's helicopters, but stuff like this is only a success if they build and use a LOT of them. Keep in mind that in the world of air traffic control, a plane with a single passenger takes up just as much room as the biggest jumbo jet when it comes to deconfliction.

One day I'll read an article about a flying car that devotes most of its content to addressing the above concerns rather than focusing on whatever new technology allows the thing to lift itself off the ground.
 

bradgator2

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Sounds like ducted fans, which are basically propellers inside of a tube. Lots of RC model planes use these things nowadays.

The problem with "flying cars" has always been the same. Its not the building of the vehicle itself. Heck we've had flying cars since the 50s. They're called helicopters. The problem is airspace. People envision that the "big sky, little bullet" theory of safety will prevail somehow without regulation, but it won't. These things have to deconflict with each other, avoid airspace that is used by other aircraft, avoid flying right over people, houses, etc at low altitudes, and a laundry list of other deconfliction problems. Easy to do when you're the only vehicle in the sky, like today's helicopters, but stuff like this is only a success if they build and use a LOT of them. Keep in mind that in the world of air traffic control, a plane with a single passenger takes up just as much room as the biggest jumbo jet when it comes to deconfliction.

One day I'll read an article about a flying car that devotes most of its content to addressing the above concerns rather than focusing on whatever new technology allows the thing to lift itself off the ground.

Apparently, you have never seen The 5th Element. Because in the future, they have roughly 50 air layers of perfect “traffic”.
 

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