Search Results for : jetson

These new-millennia flying machines have inspired multiple names. While an eventual winner is determined, a common handle seems to be the rather awkward “eVTOL” — for electric vertical takeoff and landing. A range of abbreviations are also used: UAV, UAM, UAS, autonomous aircraft, and several others. I like multicopter — because all of them involved multiple propellers doing the lifting.
Most commonly, you hear “drone.”
Yet “drone” is further confusing because we haven’t separated crewed aircraft from uncrewed aircraft and this is a major distinction. FAA has also made this separation, so for this article, I will only speak of crewed aircraft, that is, a flying machine with a pilot using controls to direct its flight. In addition, I will also stick solely to single place aircraft that can theoretically qualify as a legitimate Part 103 ultralight vehicle.
Let me first extend a quick thanks to IEEE’s Spectrum magazine for making me aware of entries I’d missed.

I promise I will not keep reporting futuristic eVTOLS or multicopters. However, since the Jetson One article went over better than expected and since I’ve focused mainly on Part 103-sized multicopters, how about one that is LSA-sized?
I still would not follow one multicopter article with another except for developer Doron Merdinger, saying this, “Suggested [selling price is] $135,000 to $150,000.” That got my attention. From what I’ve seen so far, any eVTOL larger/heavier than a Part 103 entry is way, way more expensive.
Beyond that come air taxies… 4-6-8 seater urban air transport aircraft. Those I will never report as they are commercial by design and cost far beyond any Sport Pilot’s budget. In addition, it could be years before they actually enter the market.
Can Doroni Do It?
However, a two-seater, ducted-fan, LSA-like aircraft with a 500 pound payload for $135-150,000 could actually be something some readers might consider.

By my study and reports from several other organizations, the world has somewhere north of 1,000,000 pilots. That estimate includes all airline, military, GA, and recreational pilots even including hang glider and paraglider pilots and sky divers. One million, more or less.
Now, as anyone who has not been vacationing on Mars the last couple months probably knows, another new multicopter is captivating YouTube gazers.
Dubbed Jetson One after the famous TV cartoon from decades past, this small vehicle is certainly intriguing… even if you are one of many current-day pilots who dismiss these aircraft. The video below has been viewed more than 14 million times in three months!
Not only haven’t we seen the last of this, more likely this is just the beginning.

No, Not Air Taxis…
Recreational Multicopters
Look, this article is not about air taxis or so-called UAM vehicles (Urban Air Mobility, according to some who enjoy making up new names for these multi-motored flying contraptions).

Maybe you haven’t heard enough about electric-powered aircraft, flying cars, and automobiles on autopilot (presuming you’re aware of Tesla’s fatal accident in May). How about a shape-shifting aerocar? Huh?! I know it sounds rather crazy but Toyota, being the world’s largest car manufacturer, is not a name to be dismissed when they may choose to delve into the flying car business… twice, in a few months!

Nope, I’m not kidding. The Japanese car company was awarded a patent for a “Shape Morphing Fuselage for an Aerocar.” The illustrations — typical patent artwork — might fool you. This is not some 1930s silliness. The U.S. Patent office published this very recently, on June 23rd, 2016.
Perhaps it’s no more than a publicity generator, much like Amazon’s drone delivery aircraft — about which, by the way, Amazon claims to be sincere. Or, maybe Toyota is afraid Terrafugia might beat them to an interesting market, something like Tesla did to the big boys of auto manufacturing.

Somebody at the L.A. Times has got a sweet tooth for the flying car, specifically the Terrafugia Transition SLSA-legal “roadable” airplane. No less than six feature articles about flying cars have appeared in the prestigious newspaper’s online edition in the last month alone, in departments as diverse as Business, U.S., Nation Now, Tech Now and Automobiles, penned by a variety of journalists. *** All this attention also signifies somebody at Terrafugia is really doing a superb job at getting the word out, which has in fact been evident from the beginning: I’ve seen notices of hundreds of articles in all kinds of publications since the program was first announced some years ago.Clearly the idea of a Jetsons-style flying car continues to tickle the cultural subconscious. *** That the Transition is wildly unaffordable for most 99 percenters hardly matters: it’s kind of a kick, isn’t it, to imagine being able to fly your car anywhere, then drive around once you get there?