No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car

Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by aphextron on Monday April 24, 2017 @10:06PM (#14190187)

Another nonsense marketing piece. The image in the article is not even remotely close to a flying car. It is a ducted fan ground effect craft, no different than what NASA and USAF have worked on since the 1950's. Sure you could sort out the stability and flight automation problems with modern software. But the underlying problem to solve is one of energy storage, not aerospace engineering. This company will run into the exact same wall that every other effort to do this has. Until battery power density is increased 10x, electric flying cars will never be a thing.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by robotresearcher on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @02:04AM (#14191148)

> It is a ducted fan ground effect craft, no different than what NASA and USAF have worked on since the 1950's.

No, it's not. It's a modern multi-rotor, which have only been possible recently with computer control. No ducts, no (useful) ground effect. Ground effect craft have wings:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ground+effect+craft

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by nradov on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @09:27AM (#14193277)

Ground effect isn't only a factor for fixed-wing aircraft, it also impacts rotary-wing aircraft including helicopters and the Kitty Hawk Flyer. When you fly a helicopter there is a sudden noticeable loss of lift as you climb out of the ground effect. I'll bet the Kitty Hawk is staying close to the surface at least partially to take advantage of ground effect lift, although the article doesn't make that clear.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by robotresearcher on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @03:09PM (#14196985)

I stand corrected, thanks.

Easy to understand summary of helicopter ground effect, with pictures:

http://www.copters.com/aero/ground_effect.html

I note that the rotary wing ground effect works to a height of about the rotor diameter, so it's not clear to me that this is a useful effect with these small rotors.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by tomcam on Monday April 24, 2017 @10:15PM (#14190228)

Not to mention noise. Today's cars are gratifyingly quiet. Ground effect craft are emphatically not

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by eatbitseveryday on Monday April 24, 2017 @11:24PM (#14190510)

> Today's cars are gratifyingly quiet.

Only if you sit on the inside ;) Highway noises are extremely loud, and engine noises on local roads, especially from trucks, are painful in some places.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by mannykannot on Monday April 24, 2017 @11:54PM (#14190632)

People may also be misled by how comparatively quiet electric cars are in an urban/suburban environment, and expect electric flyers will be similar (assuming the battery problem is solved.) This view overlooks two things: 1) a VTOL flyer would be at maximum power at take-off and landing, and at a high power level in cruise; 2) a lot of noise comes from the propellers or fans, and there is not much scope for reducing it.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by knz on Monday April 24, 2017 @11:26PM (#14190516)

It's still minimal, or at least more tolerated, compared to aviation related noise.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by bigstumpy on Monday April 24, 2017 @10:51PM (#14190377)

Why do you say ducted fan?

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by robotresearcher on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @02:02AM (#14191142)

Or ground effect? Rotor craft have a nasty ground effect, not a nice one, IIRC.

It looks like a big multi-rotor with a saddle and pontoons. These are so simple that they'll probably work well enough.

Battery life is an issue that's not going away quickly.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by robotresearcher on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @03:10PM (#14196995)

> Rotor craft have a nasty ground effect, not a nice one, IIRC.

I was wrong about that. Thanks to nradov above for correcting me.

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Re:No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car by hbk1966 on Monday April 24, 2017 @11:17PM (#14190486)

Colin Furze even made one a few months ago.

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