These should be banned in cities immediately. The danger here seems insane.
As someone posted elsewhere, this is an ultralight aircraft and is therefore forbidden from flying over populated areas.
Oh that’s good news. However their stated business model is in cities so I expect heavy lobbying to lift that ban to start. It could be worthwhile to have layered bans at different levels of government to provide protection in case one layer gets paid off.
While your cynicism is well-deserved in the US, Urban Air Mobility is an area of regulatory development. EASA and FAA are both actively working in this area, and VTOL and eVTOL aircraft have their own existing pilot certifications for both manned and remote flights. Lobbying has had very limited success with FAA and EASA, and they remain some of the most heavily regulated organizations.
The idea that these vehicles will ever be adequately safe, quiet, or efficient is very dubious. Any regulatory agency that isn’t outright rejecting them at this point should be viewed with suspicion.
If I’m ever proven wrong then great but I don’t see that happening for decades at minimum.
A passenger car crashed through the window of my local grocery store a few months ago. I think people see small aircraft as this great threat, but forget that cars have been quite capably killing people for over a century. They aren’t very safe, quiet, or efficient anyway, so I’m happy to see other technology getting taken seriously.
This is exactly what terrifies me though. Cars are already incredibly dangerous. Now make them 5x as fast and more difficult to control, and allow them to go anywhere and imagine the carnage.
The current regulations do consider density (people, buildings) when designating flight restrictions. Heavier small aircraft have to avoid certain areas because of the extra risk. This kind of single-passenger aircraft is way lighter than a car and wouldn’t be allowed over urban and residential areas, for example. I agree that CHANGES to the existing regulations could potentially add risk, but currently we’re ok and those changes happen slowly and are evidence-based. FAA and EASA don’t use the public as a testing area. It’s not as dystopian as the media might make you think. HTH.
