IP: What's in the Sky for 2002?

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
>
>  What's in the Sky for 2002?
>
> Private companies developing personal aircraft to fill sky's commuter lanes.
>
> By Bob Hirschfeld, TechTV staff
> December 26, 2001
> <http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=88839810&i=439488&d=2156256>
>
> As the nation's freeways become more and more congested, there's a move 
> underway to change the way we commute in the sky.
>
> NASA's Highway in the Sky program, officially known as Small Aircraft 
> Transportation System, is still years away.
>
> But some private companies have already introduced unique aircraft for 
> individual use, and more are on the drawing boards for release in the very 
> near future.
>
> The PAM (Performance Aviation Manufacturing) Group of Williamsburg, 
> Virginia, has developed a personal vehicle that can transport you via air 
> from your driveway to a nearby parking lot.
>
> The PAM-100 Individual Lifting Vehicle (ILV) works much like your own 
> individual helicopter, except it's easier to fly. The pilot simply leans 
> in the direction he or she wants to go. Vertical lift is determined by the 
> speed of the two counter-rotating propellers.
>
> You can buy one in kit form today for $50,000. The company estimates it 
> takes about 250 hours to assemble.
>
> Taking the PAM Flying Platform concept one step further is the Guardian 
> Inclined-Thrust-Angle-Aircraft (ITAAC). It's being designed by a former 
> spacecraft engineer who sees it being used, among other things, as a 
> rescue vehicle in high-rise fires.
>
> The ITAAC (pronounced "eye tac") consists of a turboprop unit with three 
> docking receptacles that can attach themselves to a building to provide 
> stability.
>
> "The vehicle takes off, rises vertically, stabilizes itself, and then 
> moves toward the building," explains Roy LoPresti, vice president and a 
> founder of LoPresti Gordon VTOL in Vero Beach, Florida. "The first parts 
> of the vehicle to contact the building are the forward-docking 
> receptacles. Once the forward-docking receptacles are properly docked, the 
> pilot pitches the vehicle so the nose goes toward the building, and 
> finally the upper docking receptacle contacts the building."
>
> According to LoPresti, the Guardian ITAAC can perform nearly every 
> helicopter function, including transportation, surveillance, medi-vac, 
> police SWAT response, and biochemical decontamination.
>
> The company is working on a proof-of-concept radio-controlled model, which 
> should be completed in about six months. The final product probably won't 
> be ready for another four years.
>
> LoPresti expects the Guardian to sell for less than $100,000.
>
> One of the problems affecting general aviation pilots is that in order to 
> keep track of where they're going, they spend a lot of time checking maps 
> rather than looking out the window.
>
> Now, a Washington-state company, Microvision, is introducing a laser 
> display system that gives pilots a "heads-up" look at their navigation 
> information.
>
> It's called Nomad. The basic unit should be available in about six months 
> at a cost of $10,000 to 12,000. That's considerably cheaper than similar 
> helmet versions in combat jets.
>
> Planes themselves are also changing.
>
> Boeing's Research and Technology Center in Madrid is developing an 
> electric-powered single-engine demonstrator airplane. The first test 
> flights are scheduled for early in 2004.
>
> A similar effort is underway to eventually use hydrogen fuel cells to 
> power a small two-seat passenger plane. The Electric Plane, or E-Plane, is 
> being built by Advanced Technology Products of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
> using the frame of an all-carbon DynAero Lafayette III kit plane donated 
> by American Ghiles Aircraft of Dijon, France.
>
> Initial flights will be powered by advanced lithium-ion batteries, 
> augmented with a 10-15 kilowatt fuel cell. In its final form, the hydrogen 
> fuel cell, augmented by reserve batteries, will give the plane a range of 
> about 500 miles.
>
> In late November, NASA announced it would provide $100,000 in funding to 
> the project. Additional money is being contributed by the Foundation for 
> Advancing Science and Technology Education.
>
> How about your own personal jet?
>
> That's the idea behind the Eclipse-500. An Albuquerque start-up is 
> building the innovative six-seater, priced at around $850,000. That's 
> about a third of the price of comparable private jets.
>
> Investors, including Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill 
> Gates, have already raised $180 million. The first planes should be flying 
> by next April.
>
> Eclipse already has an order for 1,000 of the jets from Nimbus Group, a 
> company that wants to start a nationwide jet-taxi service.
>
> There are changes ahead next year for big aircraft as well.
>
> Boeing plans to roll out the next enhancement of its venerable 747: the 
> series 400 Longer Range.
>
> The Longer Range model looks the same as the current 747. But with 
> strengthened wings, fuselage, and landing gear, it can carry more fuel, 
> extending its range another 500 miles or so. This gives it the ability to 
> fly non-stop from Los Angeles to Sydney. The cargo model can carry an 
> extra 15,000 pounds of payload.
>
> Qantas gets the first delivery in October.
>
> Meanwhile, Boeing is also at work on its next-generation passenger jet, 
> the Sonic Cruiser. This revolutionary plane will fly at an altitude above 
> 40,000, at around 750 mph, just under Mach 1.
>
> "The combination of a kind of double delta wing... with the engines 
> configured at the aft of the airplane, allows us to give a very smooth 
> distribution of the airplane for the air, to give us the lowest drag, and 
> the ability to fly close to the speed of sound," says Alan Mulally, Boeing 
> president and CEP.
>
> The Sonic Cruiser completed its first wind tunnel tests last September. 
> Its maiden commercial flight is expected in about five years.

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/