Jetson

[Cody]

Only $92,000 - I want one!

[Cholmondely]

Only $92,000 - I want one!

How long to charge the batteries? 3 days?

[hiran]

Only $92,000 - I want one!

Operating range about 30 km. Only 15 if you need a return flight. (flight time 20 minutes @ 100 km/h)

And it looks very much like a drone big enough to carry a human. Thinking of how people operate their drones today, I neither want to be inside nor anywhere near them. For good reasons the website presents a flight over some harvested field...

After all chassis 31 and 32 could be delivered in 2023 if ordered now.

[ffutures]

Oh, it's a flying kit car. What could possibly go wrong...?

Apart from me being over the maximum weight for this thing before adding clothes, luggage, crash helmet etc...

I notice they don't say anything about licensing or airworthiness certification. I wonder why?

[Disembodied]

It does rather look like someone's developed a Sinclair C5 that's capable of killing people …

[ffutures]

It does rather look like someone's developed a Sinclair C5 that's capable of killing people …

The Sinclair C5 didn't need to kill its users - they left that to every other vehicle on the road. Running them down because they were more or less invisible from the cab of an HGV, side-swiping them, pulling them over by driving close enough that they were caught in the slipstream, splashing them badly enough that they skidded or were knocked on their sides, etc. etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 518693.stm

I have an idea that the reason some aircraft have been sold in kit form is that it places all of the onus of air safety on the final assembler, not the manufacturer, but I may be remembering it wrong.

[Disembodied]

The Sinclair C5 didn't need to kill its users …

Yes, but this thing looks like it can kill other people, too, when it falls out of the air and lands on them.

[hiran]

It does rather look like someone's developed a Sinclair C5 that's capable of killing people …

The Sinclair C5 didn't need to kill its users - they left that to every other vehicle on the road. Running them down because they were more or less invisible from the cab of an HGV, side-swiping them, pulling them over by driving close enough that they were caught in the slipstream, splashing them badly enough that they skidded or were knocked on their sides, etc. etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 518693.stm

I have an idea that the reason some aircraft have been sold in kit form is that it places all of the onus of air safety on the final assembler, not the manufacturer, but I may be remembering it wrong.

Sounds similar to Mr. Bean's encounters with the Reliant.

[ffutures]

Actually the C5 was marginally more stable than the Reliant if I recall correctly, mainly because of low speed and centre of gravity which meant that cornering was slightly less of an issue.

[ffutures]

I've found out a little about the legal and airworthiness issues.

Apparently US law allows DIY construction of single-person helicopters provided that they are for the sole use of the person building them, and are not rented out or resold. This allegedly does avoid the need for a certificate of airworthiness, since the vendor of the kit isn't selling a complete aircraft. I can't help thinking that there's a subtext of "kill off the rich idiots on their own" in there somewhere, because small aircraft crashes have killed a lot of millionaires*, often with other people aboard their planes. It might be better if they don't take anyone else with them.

* e.g. Space tourist Glen M. de Vries, who flew with Shatner last month, and died in a plane crash on Thursday. Feels a little ironic.
https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2021/1 ... ane-crash/

[Cody]

In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that ultra-light vehicles - which weigh less than 254lbs (115kg) and have a maximum speed of 55kts (63mph; 101km/h) - can be flown without a pilot's certificate.