
Kitty Hawk researching self-flying, fully electric small aircraft in New Zealand - Nition
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/352489/flying-taxis-to-be-trialled-in-new-zealand
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Nition
I'm certainly dubious about this - for instance how does a self-flying
aircraft obey air traffic control commands, or report its own status to ATC or
other pilots? Since you don't need a pilot's licence (their claim), will it
handle _every_ type of unforseen weather conditions for you? A plane can't
just pull over and stop anywhere. Is a plane with only 100km (~62 mile) range
really useful vs. driving or public transport anyway? Battery weight must be a
major hurdle to greater range.

But I thought it was an interesting article worth posting anyway. We hear a
lot about electric and self-driving ground vehicles, but little about the
equivalents in aircraft. And they seem to have a real vertical-takeoff "flying
car" prototype which is more than Moller Skycar can say after half a century.

