PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Bell unveils ultra light taxi
View Single Post
Old 10th Jan 2018, 01:46
  #5 (permalink)  
Ascend Charlie
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Great South East, tired and retired
Posts: 4,387
Received 226 Likes on 104 Posts
The question that all of these proponents of "Uber-sky-taxis" avoid is :

Why do they think that permission will be available for these things to land on rooftops or in streets or in parks?

Piloted machines are banned from most places other than certified airports or helipads, and drones are banned from operating in the vicinity of airports, public areas and lots of other places.

This Bell advert is using slick advertising to indicate that this comfortable loungeroom with internet connectivity will whisk them through the skies with no effort from the passengers, other than nominating their destination to somebody who programs it, and paying for it in advance. But it doesn't show what lifting device will get it off the ground.

The average Joe or Joanne on the ground, having a quiet little skinny-dip in their backyard pool, will not appreciate the intrusion of a sky-taxi overhead. In Sydney some decades ago, the Alan Bond airship was banned from quietly drifting through the skies because of thoughts of invasion of privacy, and it was at 1000', not landing next door.
Ascend Charlie is offline