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Although of course not for flying cars I present in unlikely case your kind self is not previously knowledgeable of thereupon herewith an interesting technology for small aircraft promising greatly reduced fuel consumption via "laminar flow".
OTTO Aerospace | Introducing a revolutionary new aircraft[^]
Also they look very nice.
modified 11-Jan-24 23:01pm.
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Quote: With new ultra-high precision manufacturing techniques, these new shapes can be manufactured from advanced carbon-fiber materials to reliably achieve laminar flow in flight, dramatically reducing drag by over 30%. Our aircraft is manufactured without a rivet, seam, or gap anywhere in critical laminar flow regions.
Those 'ultra-high precision manufacturing techniques' will never be cheap. Such vehicles will be out of reach of plebians like you and I.
And, of course, a dent from hail or other source will kill the aerodynamics, and bring turbulent flow right back into the picture in a big way.
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You are of course quite correct. I assume they are for plebians plebeians patricians such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
modified 11-Jan-24 3:46am.
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Sorry I spelled it wrong. Gates and Musk don't qualify as 'plebeians' in our system: Google - plebeian. Oligarchs - definitely.
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Wake me up when we can beam us up (or down or whatever direction you need)...  
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Thank you for taking care of the orphans.
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Flying cars have been around for over a hundred years.
The Curtiss Autoplane - Wikipedia[^] was the first.
IMHO there will never be a rush to buy them as as you say there is no place for them to take off and land.
As the aircraft designer said, "Simplicate and add lightness".
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.0 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: SimpleWizardUpdate
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IMO, a practical "flying car" would need to have the following attributes:
- VTOL (no runway necessary)
- Automatic flight control (there is no way that hundreds of millions of people will learn to use the manual flight-control system used by current aircraft)
- Fuel efficiency as good as or better than a ground car moving at the same speed
- Similar passenger & luggage capacity and comfort as a ground car
- Size on ground no larger than that of a ground car (foldable wings?)
- AFFORDABLE PRICE
- ...
We would also need appropriate changes to the infrastructure:
- Flight paths at the local level
- Landing areas (might repurpose current parking lots and roofs of parking buildings)
- ...
Absent these (and probably other factors that I've missed), they will never be more than a rich man/woman's plaything.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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All those reasons are precisely why I can not understand why so many firms are spending so much money on their development. Perhaps it is a matter of investor stupidity id est the presumed "Next Big Thing" (NBT). I am attempting to recall a prior such NBT which folded. Theranos is a horse of a different color. There most must have been some but at the moment none come to mind.
modified 11-Jan-24 9:19am.
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You forgot 'required maintenance' on your list.
Quite a bit of difference in consequences between a car with bald tires and a plane with a loose rotor.
Also gives new meaning to the phrase 'drop the kids off at school'.
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jschell wrote: new meaning to the phrase 'drop the kids off at school'.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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They are a dream, but not one that I suspect is really practical for the mass market: if Joe Shmoe doesn't have his car serviced for 100,000 miles (and the "Just rolled in" channel on Youtube says there are a load of Joes out there) then that's dangerous to everyone around him, but when he's 10,000 ft up in an unserviceable flying car that's a whole new level of risk!
Even self-flying cars would have the same problem in private ownership: responsibility for your actions doesn't seem to be a concept some people grasp even vaguely.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Even self-flying cars would have the same problem in private ownership: responsibility for your actions doesn't seem to be a concept some people grasp even vaguely.
But at least a self-flying car could, under certain conditions, refuse to fly anywhere but a recognised servicing centre.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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It's a massacre in 2D imagine in 3D.
Flying cars for personal use will never happen.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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So take the humans out of the equation and make them fully autonomous.
But then, there's a ton more additional variables working against it. A lot of which have been pointed out elsewhere in this thread.
Your idea of "never" is the natural extension / conclusion of my idea of "not likely". It'd be nice, but I have to agree with you.
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My New year resolutions are usually short lived...
this year I was challenged by my "college freshwoman" grand "kid"..
1. read one classic per month - startling with "Old man and the sea "...
2. take at least one interesting photo per month...
... and I am seriously contemplating to
contact Alan Cooper to see if he would like to write sequel to
"Inmates are running the asylum "
(some of the inmates I have met in past could be
(anonymously , of course ) included in the new book - for future generations....)
Have a great year...
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I highly recommend the book, "Old man and the Sea".
Read it a couple of times.
The movie is pretty good, too.
Ernie knew how to weave a tale.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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I just finished "The Old Man and the Sea" a few days ago. I honestly believe that the classics are the original FOMO. It wasn't any better than a modern book. If anything, I feel like Hemingway kept calling him "The Old Man" to get his word count up because cause the book was very short.
Hogan
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In 1988 I made a resolution to put more things off. I haven't made another since...
Will Rogers never met me.
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Wordle 936 6/6*
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Wordle 936 3/6
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Wordle 936 6/6
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Wordle 936 3/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
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Wordle 936 3/6*
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨
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"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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