Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 18:18:39 -0400 To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Flying cars, was Alternative reality v SF Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> At 04:29 PM 4/30/05 -0400, Michael Walsh wrote: >I, for one, am quite happy the flying car idea never really, er, took >off. Considering how poorly too many people drive in 2 dimensions, the >thought of these clowns zipping along in 3 dimensions... no thanks. Ever see what it takes to get a pilot's license? 90% of the 2D clowns would never pass the tests. Besides, NASA is working on ways to make it easier to do, and therefore harder to screw up. Check out the AGATE program sometime. Combine that with some smart autopilots and BRS (Ballistic Recovery System...basically a parachute for the whole vehicle...been available for at least 10 years now) and it wouldn't really be much of a problem. Probably safer than letting those same morons operate 2 tons of steel and plastic mere inches apart at closing rates over 120 mph...like we do today. >I don't want to be constantly worrying about the results of accidents "up >there" raining down on me. Given how little space you take up, the chances of that happening are lower, even with air cars, than the chances of someone leaving the roadway and coming in through your front door (I've seen that happen once though, so the possibility does exist...except they missed the door and went in through the living room wall...couple of kids joyriding without having taken drivers ed first). I'd rather someone crash into my house in an aircar than an airliner though, so in this smaller is better... Go take a "discovery flight" sometime. Basically 60 minute flying lesson, with 30 minutes or so in the air (longer if you want to pay more). This area is pretty crowded, but once you look down on it from 2 or 3 thousand feet up, you realize how much of it *isn't* covered with roads, people and buildings. Always seeing it from roadways warps your perspective...we tend to live and work along roadways, so those areas are much more built up than even the areas nearby those places. Downtown areas of cities don't provide much emergency landing space, but the regulations take that into account with altitude restrictions and limitations on flight paths. With aircars all you have to do is insist that they land in the suburbs and drive in on the ground unless they have extra training and hardware to minimize the chances of a forced landing in a crowded area. You might not speed up your commute to downtown that way, but as we've talked about before, big cities can make use of efficient mass transit. Suburbs and rural areas would still benefit, and we wouldn't need as many roadways covering up the countryside and messing with the ecology. Just enough for moving heavy things...i.e. trucking. -- Mike B. -- If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!