Fred, You are totally wrong there with regards to it "not being for the masses". It COULD be for the masses but it will only fail because of three possible reasons.
1. The expense of the final product 2. Lack of money to continue the project. 3. Bureaucracy and greed on behalf of the legislators Also, not everyone wants to be a pilot, regardless of how "easy" and affordable it may become, just as not everyone wants to drive. As regards to flying qualifications then the USA is in a similar state of transition as the UK in that we are trying to relax the rules on lighter aircraft. The only equivalent category here to the USA LSA (Light Sports Aircraft) at present is the Microlight category which is basically anything less than 450Kg all up weight (Passengers and Fuel). Bear in mind that this is the only area of aviation that is currently growing because the aircraft are new and not 40 year old gas guzzling behemoths and they also run on standard petrol as opposed to Avgas which makes them about 50% cheaper to fly. I own shares and instruct on both types of aircraft, the newer Microlight 3 axis and also the older GA (General Aviation) Cessna, Piper etc. The hourly cost of the older machines works about at about $120 and the newer Microlights at about $50 per hour even though the newer machines can cruise at 130+ knots as opposed to about 90 knots for the older aircraft. (All prices are UK based where petrol is currently nearly $9 dollars a gallon and Avgas about $15) The biggest drawback for the flying car will be if people try and actually use it as a car on the highway. Small bumps and scratches may not harm a road car, but can be deadly on an aircraft so I cannot see the vehicle ever being used as a dedicated road car. Training is considerably reduced from a minimum of about 50 hours to 20 hours for the LSA and Sports Pilot license but bear in mind that there are lots of restrictions on the type of aircraft, distances and airspace you can fly in until you can in effect de-restrict yourself by either passing a full PPL (Private Pilots License) flight test having accrued the appropriate hours or prove yourself to an examiner as capable of being in effect "set free". All the new regulations have done is give any prospective pilot the ability to use his license albeit in a restricted fashion with minimal hours. You say about not understanding pilots on the radio, sorry but in the States this is as big a problem as anywhere else in the world. I did by flight training at Longbeach and the ATC talk was sometimes unintelligible due to strong accents and rapid speaking, so you are no different to anywhere else in the world. In fact, many would say that the USA has its own "non standard" ATC communication with loads of "hey dude" type language as opposed to the internationally defined procedures. Yes, to fly commercially you MUST have fluency in basic English and this is how it always has been unless you want to fly solely within your country of origin. However, bear in mind that you can fly privately without any radio aids at all, and all PPL's are in fact trained to do so. You simply fly in non controlled areas. Your comment that "there's already enough people that fly that have no business in the air" is made out of ignorance as to the difficulty and studying required to pass as a PPL and the revalidation requirements. Flying isn't any more taxing than driving a car but it does involve more study and EVERY PPL has to undergo this with an biennual revalidation by an approved examiner. Blaming the PPL for poor performance isn't really fair as they can only be as good as the way they were trained and be sure that flying in busy controlled airspace soon sorts out the men from the boys. I have flown with many people for their revalidation purposes as well as new pilots who I am training and ANT instructor will tell you that it is the older pilots that are the most dangerous ... they literally are out to kill you sometimes. New pilots obey all the rules without question, it is the "know it all" 700 hours "I've been flying for 20 years" pilot that has forgotten lots of the basics that is the worst. Fortunately, in commercial aviation the retests are on a 3 or six monthly basis not two years, so sleep safe in the knowledge next time you fly commercially. Training, training, training and experience as a requirement is backed up by the insurance companies, hence the need for high hours pilots to become P1 in large commercial jets. Flying is p*ss easy ... until something goes wrong, then you need the experience and training.... Becoming an instructor was the single best thing I ever did to improve my flying skills, not that I was dangerous beforehand but now I can better anticipate the effect of changing circumstances. Also, basic PPL flying is based on a see and be seen basis (Called VFP - Visual Flight Rules). This is the area where the "Sports License" is aimed. Once you go to instrument flying you are with the big boys. Make any mistakes and you soon get sent the "warning slip" by either the CAA in our case or the FAA in your case. I also take it from post that you have never or very rarely been flying in smaller aircraft i.e PPL and GA based (General Aviation) or your comments would, I expect, be better informed. Dave C -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fred Taylor Sent: 30 June 2010 18:28 To: ProFox Email List Subject: Re: [NF] I believe that this got the OK from FAA yesterday Not sure of the requirements for a "sports license", but there's not much chance of anything like this ever becoming a "for the masses" mode of transportation. People can barely drive properly in 2D, let alone maneuver in 3D space. And believe me, there's already enough people that fly that have no business in the air. Some of the airline pilot training schools have some of the worst offenders of not following the rules. Since a lot of these schools are training foreign pilots, it's nearly impossible to understand some of them on the radio. (English is the required language of air traffic, worldwide) Fred On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 10:05 AM, Stephen Russell <[email protected]>wrote: > < > http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/terrafugia-transition-flying-car-gets-a-l ittle-closer-to-reality/ > > > > Not sure how any DMV is going to deal with it! hahahahaha > > You want a license plate for a plane? > > -- > Stephen Russell > > Sr. Production Systems Programmer > CIMSgts > > 901.246-0159 cell > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. 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