Take To The Skies To Beat That Traffic

We all get tired of traffic jams and congestion. Imagine being able to avoid all the congestion and take to the skies! Flying is seen as complicated and expensive however a vision presented at the 2008 Electric Aircraft Symposium near San Francisco aims to quash that preconception.

Could flying really become a daily occurance that could replace the car? Richard Jones who is a technician for Boeing Phantom Works certainly believes so. Jones believes that flying can be an every day occurance and as easy as driving a car to work. At the Electric Aircraft Symposium he laid out his vision as not only convenient but environmentally friendly as well.

Jones envisages a day when a person stuck in a traffic jam in a 100mpg car will look up and see an aircraft with the same fuel consumption fly over head, believing flying to be a preferable means to travel if this were the case. For some however it may not be as clear cut. Many of us have a fear of flying and with private aviation accidents more common than commercial accidents it does make you wonder how safe millions of people flying to work would actually be, let alone the facilities that would need to be in place to direct and manage the traffic. In an aircraft you cannot simply stop at traffic lights!

For Jones though this is not a problem, as he believes that the computers inside the aircraft would even allow a 'driver' to read a newspaper whilst in command of the aircraft. With current laws on mobile phone use in cars detracting from drivers concentration, as well as the possibility of a computer glitch or break-down in one of these aircraft, this does seem to stretch plausability as a viable way to command an aircraft.

The Boeing research group in charge of designing the futuristic aircraft are aiming for a vehicle that could travel for up to 300 miles in one given period, without having to refuel/re-charge. The power for the vehicle it said to come from batteries and is cited as being extremely clean. This is controversial however, as some research has indicated that electrical vehicles create more pollution than combustion engined devices. This argument is due to the production and disposal of the batteries as well as the burning of fossil fuels to create the power that is needed charge the them.

The president of the organisation Brien Seeley is of the opinion that this hybrid could well become part of everyday life and with cars rising on the roads he feels the idea is a 'no brainer'. There are alternatives to the Boeing proposals however, with an electric glider that will soon be available to purchase seeming to fit the criteria very well. A Slovenian company named Pipistrel have produced the Taurus Electro that is able to climb to 6,000 ft. and is powered by a 30-kilowatt motor. The glider is advertised as being able to fly 1,000 miles in a single day and takes about the time a mobile phone takes to charge to re-charge itself.

The idea of electric power is interesting, however the infastructure needed to cope with millions of additional aircraft in the air in addition to current air traffic is mind-boggling and would require extensive funding in addition to keeping a road network in prime condition. This is something most councils would find near impossible to afford. The ironic issue is that by the time taxes had risen to cover the costs of a new air infastructure the avergae person would potentially be paying more than the rise in current fuel charges. As well as this the electricity charging the aircraft having to be powered from a potentially non-environmentally friendly source is also controversial as regards its environmentally friendly claim.

Published by: Jon Vickery