<story><title>Larry Page’s startups working on flying cars</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-09/welcome-to-larry-page-s-secret-flying-car-factories</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Nokinside</author><text>Helicopters and small planes already exist.  We might have autonomous helicopters and small planes in the future, but flying car concept is flawed and  not because it&amp;#x27;s hard to build one.&lt;p&gt;- Preflight checks and flight safety. Larry  should first build normal small aircraft that can do without constant manual checks before flight.  This is actually good subgoal to work with even without flying cars in mind. Reliable infrastructure that checks and calibrates instruments so reliably that you don&amp;#x27;t need manual checks would be revolution in aerospace.  Just walking from your car into your future Cessna-Android  and flying off would be sci-fi for  aviators.&lt;p&gt;- Energy consumption. No matter how energy efficient the engines are, hovering  and short takeoffs use lots of energy. Flying with small wings with little lift is equivalent to driving  monster trucks in full power. You don&amp;#x27;t want flying becoming everyday phenomenon until we have abundance of carbon free energy.&lt;p&gt;- Noise and safety regulations, aviation regulations over urban areas. Flying cars are not happening in the suburbs or anyone where lots of people live. In the meantime try to get new helicopter landing sites approved in your neighborhood. If you have to take car to your flying car hangar, just have a small plane instead. Or walk to a buss station.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>outworlder</author><text>&amp;gt; Preflight checks and flight safety. Larry should first build normal small aircraft that can do without constant manual checks before flight.&lt;p&gt;Omg, this. The amount of checks required for any sort of aircraft is ridiculous. A lot of it involves button pushing and checking status. This could be automated.&lt;p&gt;For instance, for a cessna 150:&lt;p&gt;STARTING ENGINE
Mixture – RICH
Carb heat – COLD
Prime – AS REQUIRED
Master switch -- ON
Beacon Light – ON
Throttle – OPEN 1&amp;#x2F;8”
Prop Area – CLEAR
Ignition – START
Oil Pressure – CHK
Radio – ON&amp;#x2F;SET
Transponder – ON &amp;#x2F; STBY
Wing Flaps – UP
Mixture – LEAN 1 INCH
READY TO TAXI&lt;p&gt;Most of these things could be set automatically.</text></comment>
<story><title>Larry Page’s startups working on flying cars</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-09/welcome-to-larry-page-s-secret-flying-car-factories</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Nokinside</author><text>Helicopters and small planes already exist.  We might have autonomous helicopters and small planes in the future, but flying car concept is flawed and  not because it&amp;#x27;s hard to build one.&lt;p&gt;- Preflight checks and flight safety. Larry  should first build normal small aircraft that can do without constant manual checks before flight.  This is actually good subgoal to work with even without flying cars in mind. Reliable infrastructure that checks and calibrates instruments so reliably that you don&amp;#x27;t need manual checks would be revolution in aerospace.  Just walking from your car into your future Cessna-Android  and flying off would be sci-fi for  aviators.&lt;p&gt;- Energy consumption. No matter how energy efficient the engines are, hovering  and short takeoffs use lots of energy. Flying with small wings with little lift is equivalent to driving  monster trucks in full power. You don&amp;#x27;t want flying becoming everyday phenomenon until we have abundance of carbon free energy.&lt;p&gt;- Noise and safety regulations, aviation regulations over urban areas. Flying cars are not happening in the suburbs or anyone where lots of people live. In the meantime try to get new helicopter landing sites approved in your neighborhood. If you have to take car to your flying car hangar, just have a small plane instead. Or walk to a buss station.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jackhack</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt;In the meantime try to get new helicopter landing sites approved in your neighborhood.&lt;p&gt;Which takes us right back to the noise issue which needs to be solved, first. &amp;#x27;Till then, no way.&lt;p&gt;Helicopters (nicknamed &amp;#x27;choppers&amp;#x27; for good reason) buzzing over neighborhoods aren&amp;#x27;t exactly the average homeowner&amp;#x27;s dream. The &amp;quot;whapwhapwhapwhap&amp;quot; of a helicopter overhead, reverberating through a home, is just as desirable as open-pipe Harley Davidson motorbikes or roaring hotrods. That is to say, it&amp;#x27;s not.&lt;p&gt;Other than a crash, I can&amp;#x27;t think of a surer way to put people off from air traffic than noise.&lt;p&gt;(edit: grammatical typo: than-&amp;gt;as)</text></comment>