More interesting electric and VTOL aircraft on the horizon

[John_Cillis 2,406]

And with coming breakthrus in solid state battery technology, aviation will have an interesting future:

 

[Murmur 3,941]

Lilium Jet is my favourite among them.

[WingZ 547]

+1... they have very convincing PR, too.

Not sure why there are any that do not use thrust vectoring of some sort. If you don't, you are carrying dead weight engines pointing in the wrong direction. And flying cars are never going to work, they are pathetic cars and bad aircraft.

[n4gix 4,947]

Um, the Lilium does use 'thrust vectoring'. Did you not notice the fans rotate from downwards for take off, and rotate aft for cruise?

[WingZ 547]

Yes.

I was referring to some of the others like the Cora, which does not. It then has to carry those lift motors as dead weight.

As to the flying cars, I did quite like the look of Airbus/Italdesign's Popup, less of a flying car than a Dual-mode vehicle. At least you don't cart around the bits that aren't working for you in air or ground mode

 

 

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

20 hours ago, WingZ said:

Yes.

I was referring to some of the others like the Cora, which does not. It then has to carry those lift motors as dead weight.

As to the flying cars, I did quite like the look of Airbus/Italdesign's Popup, less of a flying car than a Dual-mode vehicle. At least you don't cart around the bits that aren't working for you in air or ground mode

 

 

 

Like you I do not think the flying cars will ever be viable, they are not true road vehicles and too many compromises as aircraft.  It is cheaper to get a quality used aircraft and use a taxi to get to the airport.  The closest thing to personal air travel is a powered parachute, though there are not many places open enough in urban areas for their use.  A farmer near my old community had one and we'd see him flying over our community in the still air, it was fun to watch him fly.  I flew trikes some years ago which could be towed into a small airstrip, loved flying them but did not trust the two stroke motors that powered nearly all trikes on the market, plus mixing oil and gas was not fun.  Now trikes with lightweight four stroke motors are coming on the market as well as PPC's.   My former CFI lost his Challenger when his two stroke failed in flight and he had to land on Lake Pleasant highway in Phoenix.  He almost saved his plane but one wing hit a road sign and crumpled, but he saved himself and his passenger from injury by thinking cooly.  I saw the crash on the news, recognized his plane, and called him at home that night to see how he was doing, he said something failed on his engine and he lost power.

What worries me about these rotorcraft is their losing power, and falling like stones from the sky, being unable to autorotate.  Those with wings might glide in but the one above, risky.  Electric motors are dependable but peripheral support to them might fail.  They would need a lot of testing hours before I would ever get in one.  I would get in an electric airplane like the Pipstral.  And if solid state batteries are perfected soon, they could be a game changer when it comes to range and recharging, opening up new avenues for flight schools worldwide.

John

[WingZ 547]

I saw a demo where one of the rotors in a quadcopter was disabled.
It managed to survive by rotating about a vertical axis and wobbling to a safe landing.
You'd be nauseous but alive! 

I think the Pipistrel has a parachute which might be an option too.
Perhaps these things could be confined to flight corridors where an uncontrolled landing would not guarantee being run over by a 32-wheeler.