Is an easy car-like experience what we want in an aircraft?

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Brad W

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came across this article.
www.aopa.org

Aviation's Model T envisioned

Airhart Aeronautics co-founder and CEO Nikita Ermoshkin wants to make flying easier, safer and less expensive to attract more people to general aviation.
www.aopa.org

I had a thought.... is this really the thing that pilots want? (basically a dirt simple and easy "anybody-can-do-it" experience.) Something that is approaching a self-flying aircraft.

If I'm honest, I have to think that what I enjoy about the flight experience, in part anyway, was the accomplishment.
maybe a certain sense of pride in learning and overcoming something very complex
sure ATC functions could be transmitted electronically to my moving map, but there's something about the old school knowledge and finesse of radio work
sure having lots of instruments and gauges to scan makes things much more difficult, but following some dumbed-down display on a screen doesn't seem to be the same..maybe a little sense of connection to the past in it.
I'm not sure exactly what it is...

Of course there are other factors to consider....safety, utility, etc... of course.

But one thing is for sure. Piloting my own aircraft brings many more dimensions of joy than I get when sitting in the passenger seat.
So do I really want a plane that's a simple as a car is to drive, or even more...something that flies itself?
 
Brad W said:
came across this article.
www.aopa.org

Aviation's Model T envisioned

Airhart Aeronautics co-founder and CEO Nikita Ermoshkin wants to make flying easier, safer and less expensive to attract more people to general aviation.
www.aopa.org

I had a thought.... is this really the thing that pilots want? (basically a dirt simple and easy "anybody-can-do-it" experience.) Something that is approaching a self-flying aircraft.

If I'm honest, I have to think that what I enjoy about the flight experience, in part anyway, was the accomplishment.
maybe a certain sense of pride in learning and overcoming something very complex
sure ATC functions could be transmitted electronically to my moving map, but there's something about the old school knowledge and finesse of radio work
sure having lots of instruments and gauges to scan makes things much more difficult, but following some dumbed-down display on a screen doesn't seem to be the same..maybe a little sense of connection to the past in it.
I'm not sure exactly what it is...

Of course there are other factors to consider....safety, utility, etc... of course.

But one thing is for sure. Piloting my own aircraft brings many more dimensions of joy than I get when sitting in the passenger seat.
So do I really want a plane that's a simple as a car is to drive, or even more...something that flies itself?
Click to expand...
Personal opinion in random arrangement:

I don't want a self-driving car, much less a self-flying plane.

I find it amazing that we still fly with icing-prone carburetors, leaded fuel and manual mixture control. The avionics have come a long way into relatively up-to-date technology, but the engines are still stuck in 1948. Knowing how to read and understand CHTs, EGTs, and TITs doesn't really add to the piloting experience, but definitely adds to the taskload in the cockpit.

Anyone who is in command of a flying machine over populated areas needs to know how to fly and land safely. Given the external risk factors, that's a much more involved process than making a decision to drive an automated land vehicle, even with every conceivable automated safety feature.
 
Are you the target market?
As potential markets go, Airhart is focusing on people who could benefit from using a personal aircraft for transportation but might not have considered learning to fly, largely because of the difficulty and expense of earning a pilot certificate and acquiring an airplane. Ermoshkin wants to make flying easy and convenient enough to convince such potential customers that personal air travel can improve their quality of life.

“There are a lot of people who have vacation houses at Lake Tahoe and spend hours in the car getting there,” says Ermoshkin, who is based in Long Beach, California. The prospect of cutting travel time and experiencing the joy of flying over highway traffic instead of getting stuck in it should be enough to draw this audience.
Click to expand...
 
“While the initial aircraft is expected to cost $500,000 and will operate under experimental rules, the company plans to develop a certified version selling for less than $100,000 in 10 years”

Ummmm….
 
Llewtrah381 said:
“While the initial aircraft is expected to cost $500,000 and will operate under experimental rules, the company plans to develop a certified version selling for less than $100,000 in 10 years”

Ummmm….
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think that history shows that a zero was left off of the 10 year number.
 
This has been a concept since the early days.

Sticks were replaced with yokes to make flying more car driving like and to be easier for women wearing skirts/dresses (back when they did).
 
Depends on if you want to be a pilot or a passenger.

If the conduct of drivers on the road are any indication of what car-like airplanes have in store for us, I don't want any part of it. I still drive a stick.

I don't think we have to worry about car-like airplanes in the future. I hope I am wrong, but GA has no future.
 
So a FADEC’d fly by wire Ercoupe with a 2-axis autopilot with envelope protection. Perfect for MOSAIC.
 
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