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Re:Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video] by nradov on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @12:23PM (#16577341)
Glide where? This aircraft seems to be targeted toward moving people relatively short distances around dense areas. If you're in a city, look around. How many suitable emergency landing sites do you see with a large, flat, open area without nearby buildings, overhead power lines, or trees? If it loses power at low altitude it's not going to be gliding very far no matter what.

And as others have pointed out, helicopters are perfectly capable of autorotating in case of power loss.

Re:Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video] by ableal on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @01:51PM (#16578106)
> emergency landing sites

Well, there's beaches near some coastal cities that afford survivable landings, but may be risky for others.

Last year there was a tragic case near Lisbon where two people on the ground died. It was a flight lesson with an experienced instructor, who followed protocol and landed on sand at the water's edge. (My understanding of the discussion at the time was that hitting water with fixed landing gear is an almost certain death sentence for the plane passengers, because it flips over instantly.)

Unfortunately, without power, the pilot missed a more deserted stretch and ended up in a section of the beach with quite a few people enjoying the summer at the seaside.

One of the reports in the Portuguese press: http://observador.pt/2017/08/02/avioneta-despenha-se-na-prai...

Re:Cora – Kitty Hawk's prototype air taxi [video] by fastball on Thursday March 15, 2018 @08:28AM (#16592210)
Any large street could probably work well?