A Controversy for Starters Skeptics abound concerning the current spate of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) machines. The latest entry in the competition comes from the trio of Erik Lindbergh, Eric Bartsch, and Pat Anderson of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Their Verdego eight-rotor machine looks a bit like the Airbus A3 Vahana, but has pusher, rather than puller, propellers on the rear wing. On his Linked In page, Bartsch jumps into an ongoing fray with his article, “The Inevitability of Short-Range Urban Aviation – Why I’m Betting Against the “Flying Uber” Skeptics.” It takes aim at the opposing point of view in “Going Direct: On the Insanity of Flying Ubers,” by Plane & Pilot writer Robert Goyer. To shorten the two arguments to their most primal levels, Eric Bartsch thinks sky taxis are coming and are inevitable. Goyer thinks the idea is insane and not supported by even basic physics or available mechanical systems. He doesn’t acknowledge an advantage to having …
