Any drone enthusiast/hobbiest?

[Hmac]

Well that is no longer a UAV is it? I guess we finally have are flying cars gents.

Drone with passenger. It's entirely autonomous...doesn't even have an opportunity to control it.

The advantage to autonomous flight planning is the elimination of humans wandering into airspace where they shouldn't either because it's restricted or because there is other air traffic. That would be controllable by ATC or by the networked flight programming, either before or during the flight. The computer route for the drone would be networked so that its route can be designed not to conflict with other traffic.

The concept looks really cool, just like every other flying car system out there. The technology to build it exists and would be relatively easy to implement, in fact already has been implemented. To do so economically (especially if the thing has a one-passenger payload) is very problematic, and even more so when we begin to figure out how these fit within the national airspace system.

China is one thing. Don't look for these anytime soon in the US. Regulatory hurdles will be profound.

[Outlander Systems]

I would be 100% behind passenger drones if there was a failsafe mode where the passenger could move from passive to active control of the unit. Or, for licensed pilots, a manual version.

Drone with passenger. It's entirely autonomous...doesn't even have an opportunity to control it.

The advantage to autonomous flight planning is the elimination of humans wandering into airspace where they shouldn't either because it's restricted or because there is other air traffic. That would be controllable by ATC or by the networked flight programming, either before or during the flight. The computer route for the drone would be networked so that its route can be designed not to conflict with other traffic.

The concept looks really cool, just like every other flying car system out there. The technology to build it exists and would be relatively easy to implement, in fact already has been implemented. To do so economically (especially if the thing has a one-passenger payload) is very problematic, and even more so when we begin to figure out how these fit within the national airspace system.

China is one thing. Don't look for these anytime soon in the US. Regulatory hurdles will be profound.

[Hmac]

I would be 100% behind passenger drones if there was a failsafe mode where the passenger could move from passive to active control of the unit. Or, for licensed pilots, a manual version.

Or a ballistic parachute and minimum 500 foot transit altitude.

[elephant]

Or a ballistic parachute and minimum 500 foot transit altitude.

The Cirrus SR22 needs more than 500 feet to deploy parachute doesn't it?

[Hmac]

The Cirrus SR22 needs more than 500 feet to deploy parachute doesn't it?

Yes, but I was thinking more along the lines of a Second Chantz system. I'm guessing an ultra light system would be more suitable.

[elephant]

I guess autorotation is out of the question then?

[TAZ]

Drone with passenger. It's entirely autonomous...doesn't even have an opportunity to control it.

The advantage to autonomous flight planning is the elimination of humans wandering into airspace where they shouldn't either because it's restricted or because there is other air traffic. That would be controllable by ATC or by the networked flight programming, either before or during the flight. The computer route for the drone would be networked so that its route can be designed not to conflict with other traffic.

The concept looks really cool, just like every other flying car system out there. The technology to build it exists and would be relatively easy to implement, in fact already has been implemented. To do so economically (especially if the thing has a one-passenger payload) is very problematic, and even more so when we begin to figure out how these fit within the national airspace system.

China is one thing. Don't look for these anytime soon in the US. Regulatory hurdles will be profound.

It's all fun and games till the blue screen of death turns into the pink stain of death.

[Outlander Systems]

Thanks for the LOLz!

That was classic.

It's all fun and games till the blue screen of death turns into the pink stain of death.

[Hmac]

I guess autorotation is out of the question then?

Fixed pitch props. It would drop like a rock.

[Hmac]

It's all fun and games till the blue screen of death turns into the pink stain of death.

Oh yeah. You could have redundant electronics easy enough, but motors and batteries are heavy so backups would be problematic...lose one of those and time to hit the silk AFAIK.