Oh, these air taxi vehicles are coming. I don't doubt that, if for no other reason than they are absorbing vast amounts of money as people bet on some grand future where infotech merges with aviation to make flying vastly better and easier. It's a fantastic dream and when smart people powered by enough money work on something long enough… something often happens.
Fine. That's the sales pitch and apparently it's working because more than 350 companies around the globe have raised billions of dollars to pursue their dreams yet the first entries remain far from market.
Several people at the very pinnacle of FAA have departed the agency and are now working for air taxi developers (naturally, they are often called by some term other than the mundane "air taxi" label). Even the late Acting Administrator Billy Nolan split for a big job at one of these companies.
What we've got now is a total of five current entries in the Part 103 multicopter race. Think about that.
You never heard of these aerial contraptions until a very few years ago. Yet we have five entries purely as Part 103 vehicles. Honestly, I've watched closely and we've haven't seen that many new Part 103 candidates in years.
What you have seen up close, I'm betting, is smaller "drones," usually quad copters than can be flown with a radio-control aircraft handset. You may have flown or owned one.
I had a DJI Vision quadcopter for a while. I enjoyed flying it and used it to learn more about these things. Yet what I always wanted was a person-sized version that I could take for a local flight.
I've mentioned this fanciful dream to a number of aviators. If I ask fellow pilots if they would like to take one for a spin, the answer is commonly not only, "Yes," but "Absolutely!" Of course, all of us who are similarly enthusiastic harbor concerns that the software must be exceptionally robust. It may be to that point now; I simply don't know. When flight control software is highly reliable, these multicopters might become the safest aircraft you could fly.
When fully proven, lots of people may want to go aloft. In fact, I'll bet hugely more people will do this than will go pay for conventional flying lessons.
Here are the five currently vying to capture your business:
Rotor X said, "Dragon can carry one pilot who is over 6 foot-6 and weighs up to 250 pounds." Dragon can fly "for up to 20 minutes depending on the weight of the pilot and the air density where the aircraft is flying."
Development of Dragon eVTOL ultralight kit was funded entirely by Advanced Tactics, Rotor X reported. Dragon is licensed by Rotor X to produce, market, and sell. "The first production Dragon kit is expected to roll off the assembly line in Chandler, Arizona by the fall of 2023." Pre-order price was stated at $85,000 "for the first 100 Dragon kits sold." Then the kit price will rise to $99,000.
Ready to go along?
If you listen to perpetually-excited media, air taxis will soon be shuttling people hither and yon in all the big cities of the globe. Executives and shoppers will be whisked around downtown skyscrapers silently, quietly, swiftly, and the cost will be modest. Do you buy all that? I’m not holding my breath. Oh, these air taxi vehicles are coming. I don’t doubt that, if for no other reason than they are absorbing vast amounts of money as people bet on some grand future where infotech merges with aviation to make flying vastly better and easier. It’s a fantastic dream and when smart people powered by enough money work on something long enough… something often happens. Fine. That’s the sales pitch and apparently it’s working because more than 350 companies around the globe have raised billions of dollars to pursue their dreams yet the first entries remain far from market. Several people at the very pinnacle of FAA have departed the agency and are now working for air taxi developers (naturally, they are often called by some term other than the mundane “air taxi” label).