Where are all the flying cars?

[gwendally]

I grew up thinking that George Jetson's future was right around the corner. Surely the screens and cellphones are here. We've got the robot maid now, and the moving floors, video newspapers, video phone calls. Oops, the wife is still a housewife, though. But possibly most disappointing of all, the flying cars just aren't here

Comments

PTSD from the sound of a helicopter

[gwendally]

https://gwendally.livejournal.com/993128.html

[barking_iguana]

In particular, the very rich who place an unusually high value on convenience and/or thrill in comparison to risk of death.

[elenbarathi]

Lots of people in my area have private planes - there are little private airstrips in many of the fancier neighborhoods. A small used plane only costs around 20-30 grand; comparable to a boat. Helicopters are more expensive, slower, and much trickier to operate and maintain: "Ten thousand spare parts flying in formation." It's probably harder to get a license for them too.

My father was a pilot, and in his office he had this poster: "Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect." It's a GOOD thing that most flying machines are beyond the means of the general populace - otherwise, we wouldn't even be safe walking, for fear of that junk falling out of the sky at any moment.

You can build an ultralight from a kit for under $20,000. They're not exactly flying cars - more like flying mini-bikes - but they're probably a lot of fun, right up to the moment when Murphy's Law and Newton's Law both kick in at the same time.

[unix_jedi]

It's probably harder to get a license for them too.

Actually, it's not.

40 hours, same as fixed-wing. 10 flight hours if you want to get the other one. (Few people get either of 'em in 40 hours, I think I had 55 when I got mine. I've also heard that it takes more than 10, like 15 or so to get the helicopter ticket.)

I've actually gotten some free sim time for a helicopter training place at Sun n Fun... guy was surprised at how well I was figuring things out.

I was like "Screw this crap, this is unflyable!"

[elenbarathi]

Hmmm... I'd say "astonishing!", except I guess it's really not, considering how little it takes to get a driver's license. Also, I don't suppose most people start with helicopters, and no doubt they're easier to learn if you already know how to fly a fixed-wing plane.

I don't, but I've been up in a lot of them, and flew in helicopters with my Dad a couple of times. They seem like they'd be incredibly fun, right up to the moment they turn into an Emergency In Progress. I'd love to try hang-gliding too, but it seems like an excellent way to win myself a free ticket for a life-long ride in a power wheelchair, so - alas! - I never will.

"I was like "Screw this crap, this is unflyable!""

LOL, so well-said!

[froggoddess]

Yep. One of my brother's college friends is a NYC family with a house near Stratton. Periodically they all go up there for the weekend, when the younger generation goes they rent cars. But when their parents' generation is there, they sometimes decide to skip traffic by summoning a helicopter. To Newfane.

Related, but different (I think?), an old friend of mine came to visit a few years back when he was flying around the country. He had taken flying lessons and apparently in Vancouver it's cheap to rent little planes to fly around in? Or comparable to renting cars, assuming you know how to fly? Anyway, weather happened and he got stuck somewhere and ended up diverting here, to the little airport in my new town. Pretty cool to watch him fly in on this tiny little plane!

[jette]

It's actually how Bill Graham died, so as usual, I blame the baby boomers. (If you click through the article, his destination was maybe 45 minutes away, tops, considering the lighter traffic thirty years ago.)