Sir Stephen Hillier, chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the travel industry is at an “inflection point” and needs global co-operation ahead of the “widespread” adoption of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) designed to carry passengers on short trips.
His comments come after UK airspace struggled to cope with conventional passenger jets during a summer of delays compounded by the failure of the country’s air traffic control system over the August bank holiday, which grounded hundreds of aircraft and delayed thousands of passengers.
VTOLs are nothing but rich people’s toys. They’ll never take off (ha!) among the public. Good public transport will always be cheaper and less wasteful.
Not only that, but they will make an ungodly racket while doing so. Multi propellers all turning at a slightly different RPM, with all the annoying beat frequencies this will create. They will also likely be almost as expensive as helicopters (only a very small amount of a helicopter’s cost is its fuel, the overwhelming majority is maintenance and insurance).
I’ve seen the standard of driving. I really don’t want anyone less qualified than a pilot over my head. Learning to fly is expensive and likely to remain so.
A computer?