Following the Money to Green Flight

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

The path to green flight is paved with money.  In our transactional world, good ideas are sometimes rewarded with filthy lucre, even if those ideas are intended to clean up a besmirched world.  Several examples of clean aviation attracting solid investments follow, along with some stumbling on unexpected obstacles. Jetson ONE For a flying machine lighter than most of its prospective pilots, the Jetson ONE has attracted a host of followers, including the host of a late-night chat show.   Besides receiving 3,000 purchase requests in two months the firm has sold its initial production runs for 2022 and 2023. At $92,000 a unit, 100 craft in the first year would net $9.2 million, enough to finance the simple assembly …

Flying Machines in Your Two Car Garage

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

A flying machine in your two-car garage was the promise heralded by Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines during the 1950s and 1960.  It was the era of Bob Cummings piloting his Aerocar on his popular TV show, and KISN radio watching over traffic with one in Portland, Oregon.  Expectations were high and often disappointed. High costs of establishing a network of two-ton, four-passenger eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) machines dissuaded even Uber from pursuing that goal.  Consider that skyports, vertiports, or whatever they ended up as are enormously expensive, and a network with charging stations and passenger accommodations would be a large investment.  Beyond that, each sky taxi would cost well into the high six figures, something …