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ZL2VAL > TECHNO 19.08.04 13:58l 167 Lines 7187 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: NASA to design Aircars?
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Sent: 040819/1105Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:45844 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : TECHNO@WW
*Future Flyers: Pushing Forward for Personal Aircraft*
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 18 August 2004
7:00 a.m. ET
Ask science fiction fans about the future and no doubt they'll tell you
it's full of flying cars.
The concept of personal flying machines seems to be as old as the
aviation itself, yet cars, trucks and buses still claim the
transportation throne.
However NASA researchers, as well as private aviation engineers, are
working to develop the next step in personal air transportation.
The Personal Air Vehicle Exploration (PAVE) program at NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton Virginia, for example, is working to develop
easy-to-use aircraft that may one day take you from your garage to the
airport and on to your destination, saving time - and hopefully dollars
- otherwise be spent on a public flight.
"That's always been the dream," said Andrew Hahn, PAVE vehicle sector
analyst at Langley, of flying cars. "Our plan is to have a flying
demonstrator by [2009]."
While Hahn and PAVE manager Mark Moore work to develop roadable air
vehicles, other Langley researchers in a separate project are hoping to
streamline the interfaces between personal aircraft and the thousands of
small airports across the country to serve future flyers.
Neither car, nor plane
The challenge of fusing cars with airplanes is that, in the end, the
final vehicle tends to be inefficient on the road and in the air.
"It was heavier and costlier and not a particularly good car or
airplane," Hahn said of the vehicular combination. "So at least with the
foreseeable technology, it didn't look too attractive."
Meeting Department of Transportation regulations for road vehicles, he
told SPACE.com, also adds a 1,000 pounds of weight to a vehicle.
PAVE is aimed at developing a small aircraft capable of short jaunts on
city streets, enough to get to a nearby airport and back, researchers
said.
The first step is a demonstrator aircraft, called TailFan and expected
to fly by the 2009 fiscal year, to tackle some of the biggest challenges
to personal air vehicles. Among them are ease-of-use, environmental
issues like noise and pollution, as well as affordability.
"Airplanes are just not affordable to the bulk of people," Hahn said.
"And those who can afford them aren't buying them in droves."
For TailFan, PAVE researchers are taking a horse-like approach to
navigation, building a system smart enough know where to fly but
allowing human aviators enough control to stay attentive in case of an
emergency.
"It's sort of like this interesting middle ground?like having a robotic
copilot," Hahn said. "Full autonomy is not going to be reliable enough
for people to trust their lives to."
A roadable vehicle like the Gridlock Commuter is still about 10 years
away, he added.
Smaller airport alternative
Another, potentially nearer-term flight alternative is also under study
by LARC researchers.
Dubbed the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program, the
project is developing some of the basic technologies to make use of the
more than 5,000 small airports across as a greater means of
point-to-point transport.
"Nearly all of the people in this country live in a 30 minutes of a
small airport," said Jerry Hefner, SATS project manager at Langley, in a
telephone interview. "We're working to move general aviation and small
aircraft from enthusiasts to a mode of transportation."
SATS is primarily aimed at boosting volume operations at small airports
without towers or radar, as well developing new technologies and
operating procedures to help pilots land in low-visibility at minimally
equipped airports. Increasing single-pilot crew safety, with systems
such as synthetic vision, heads-up displays, and integrating those small
aircraft into the larger national airspace are also project goals.
"The idea is that you won't have to leave home an hour early to get to
the airport, then spend two hours waiting for security and check-in,"
Hefner said."
Developing that navigation and airport infrastructure is a vital
component for the future of personal air travel, according to aircraft
developers.
"Without it, the vehicle will be primarily a novelty," said Paul Moller,
an aeronautical engineer spearheading development of the Skycar vertical
takeoff and landing aircraft at Moller International in Davis,
California. "A highway in the sky is a really critical tool."
SATS researchers are planning a flight demonstration of their
technologies in 2005 at Danville Regional Airport in Danville, Virginia.
The effort is a joint project with the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Consortium for
Aviation Mobility.
*Automobile aviators*
The U.S. government has only approved two vehicles that could both drive
on city streets and take to the air.
The first was Airphibian, a 150-horsepower vehicle with detachable tail
and wings that could be removed for street driving. Developed by Robert
Fulton in 1946 and approved by the FAA's precursor - the Civil
Aeronautics Administration. Moulton Taylor's Aerocar, with a body
covered in fiberglass, also gained FAA certification and could fly at
120 miles (194 kilometers) per hour.
While both vehicles were flyable, they failed to find enough support to
get off the ground commercially. Hahn even doubts the true roadability
of both vehicles.
"The Airphibian is a three-wheeled concept - only needs to meet
motorcycle regulations - which did work, but I doubt was fully roadable
[at] 65 mph on a highway for hours on end," he said. "The Taylor Aerocar
is fully roadable, but is not compliant with the [Department of
Transportation's] regulations for cars."
Flying in your future
Many researchers and engineers see robust personal air transportation as
an inevitable alternative to congested airport hubs and freeways frozen
by traffic.
"People are going to stop driving if they can't get anywhere," Moller
told SPACE.com.
In addition to Moller's Skycar, a number of private groups are pursuing
their own versions of a personal flying machine. Engineers at Israel's
Urban Aeronautics Ltd. are developing an aerial utility vehicle dubbed
X-Hawk while Hunstville, Alabama's MACRO Industries are hard at work on
the SkyRider X2R.
If those vehicles catch on, Hahn said, they could even drive a wedge
between rural and urban lifestyles, with people living on small airports
and flying to their urban workplace a hundred miles away or more.
Many people already live in airport communities where aircraft taxiways
start at the end of their driveways. In Florida's Spruce Creek community
just south of Daytona Beach, for example, 4,500 people and 600 aircraft
live in close quarters, with 1,500 people parked off nearby taxiways.
"There's just a lot of advantages to it," said Peter Rouse, Spruce
Creek's airport manager and a longtime resident. "And it's a pleasant
place to be, that's the main thing."
73 - Alan, ZL2VAL @ ZL2AB
Message timed: 23:05 on 2004-Aug-19
Wackiest Warning Labels Ever
----------------------------
* A popular manufactured fireplace log warns: "Caution: Risk of Fire."
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