Originally Posted by
Icarus2001
I just keep coming back to the reality of, what,
two or three passengers dropped on the roof of a privately owned CBD "helipad". Now they have a lift ride and walk to their office. How many such pads exist in Australian capital cities? Where do they get picked up in the suburbs? Local city councils are not going to let them mix with park recreational areas unless they fence off an area as a landing site.
As I have said before, helicopters can already do this but they are hardly ubiquitous.
How does all this fit with the low level "drone" delivery corridors that have been discussed?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-...light/10983684
You are missing the point - privately owned will not exist.
I can see that there will be "terminal areas" access to these areas will be by some thing like a driver-less car to something like a driver-less point to point/s train (Singapore airport terminals) then on to a drone to landing areas on many buildings and other properties. These landing areas will be on some current and many new buildings and be an income revenue for building owners (think shopping centres, sports complex's and other places that need to supply parking).
Giving out a small landing fee per person makes big $'s on volume for building owner (but Uber will control the amount you get or use your neighbour that will do it cheaper), taking over governments transport infrastructure and maintenance costs will be easy sell (bribe).
On several fronts the "big companies" are infiltrating air transport without passengers, this airport shuttle is just another angle but with passengers.
I expect if enough money is thrown at this dream, we could see some experimental flights in drones from a handful of locations near the selected airports inc Melbourne, via a non populated path without passengers in the given time frame. I expect it would be a very expensive flight each time and then take many more expensive flights over several more years to get certification, all tax deductible development costs.
But to own the worlds transport rights including commercial airspace of all(most) countries is a very powerful position to have.
The insurance issue would be assisted by the ICAO limit in many cases so self insurance would be the norm in most countries.
Use of current helicopters in city commute is very different to electric drone type craft in the commute of inner city - An R44 even after the fuel tank mods has many risk assessment issues, such as 1 tail rotor, 1 main rotor, 1 engine and a on-board pilot.