Back in my day we had to follow the magenta line...

FORANE

FORANE

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FORANE
Whats the future of aviation?
Any guesses?
 
push the auto-takeoff/auto-cruise/auto-land button and go.
 
latest

Where can I take you tonight?
 
This topic depresses me. I just hope I can buy avgas or a suitable alternative long enough to own something with a round motor when the kids all leave the nest.

ETA: and I don't mean electric.....
 
Self-contained solid state inertial navigation units will replace GPS.

Battery technology will get to the point where you can fly for three hours on a charge, land with an hour reserve, and recharge to 100% in 10 minutes. The batteries, motor and system install will cost about what a gasoline-based system does, but charging and maintenance over their lifespan will be a fraction.

FBO lobbies will become populated with pilots hanging out talking about flying, hiding from their wives and drinking free coffee.

LAS Bravo will require a clearance to enter.
 
ateamer said:
Self-contained solid state inertial navigation units will replace GPS.

Battery technology will get to the point where you can fly for three hours on a charge, land with an hour reserve, and recharge to 100% in 10 minutes. The batteries, motor and system install will cost about what a gasoline-based system does, but charging and maintenance over their lifespan will be a fraction.

FBO lobbies will become populated with pilots hanging out talking about flying, hiding from their wives and drinking free coffee.

LAS Bravo will require a clearance to enter.
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I like your future. It's less dystopian than mine.
 
ateamer said:
Self-contained solid state inertial navigation units will replace GPS.

Battery technology will get to the point where you can fly for three hours on a charge, land with an hour reserve, and recharge to 100% in 10 minutes. The batteries, motor and system install will cost about what a gasoline-based system does, but charging and maintenance over their lifespan will be a fraction.

FBO lobbies will become populated with pilots hanging out talking about flying, hiding from their wives and drinking free coffee.

LAS Bravo will require a clearance to enter.
Click to expand...
The Tesla airplane? With a chute?
 
.....will be without me when I expire. More’s the pity:D.

Cheers
 
I remember the Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines from the late 60s were all over about how in 50 years we all would be in self flying cars.....
 
The revolution in aviation, driving, medicine and how we communicate have been largely due to major leaps made in electronics and software development. Comparatively, other areas have remained stagnant. We still drive at 65 mph, engines still reciprocate and energy is still comes from juice we dig out of the ground. My hope is that electronics and software will run out of steam, at least temporarily, and other areas will make giant leaps. An electric motor+battery that can propel a GA aircraft for 5 hours would be a major leap forward.
 
ateamer said:
I was referring (unclearly) to tiny INS units priced comparably with GPS navigators.
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I see. I never flew with the IRS units pictured in the Wiki link. I did fly with the older mechanical whirring (shrieking) INS units and they drifted quite a bit and could not give 3D position resolution, just 2D (that I know of). I understand the IRS units also drifted. I guess you are thinking that someone will develop a whole new technology.
 
Arnold said:
I see. I never flew with the IRS units pictured in the Wiki link. I did fly with the older mechanical whirring (shrieking) INS units and they drifted quite a bit and could not give 3D position resolution, just 2D (that I know of). I understand the IRS units also drifted. I guess you are thinking that someone will develop a whole new technology.
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From time to time, technology improves. There was a time when it was a sci-fi fantasy to have a handheld device that could do voice communications, send typed messages, grab the weather forecast, tell you what star is overhead and access the entire sum of human knowledge with a few touches of the screen.
 
All technology follows an “S” curve. Very slow improvements at the start, rapid improvement in the middle and finally, just small incremental improvements until it gets replaced or just staggers along.

Cell phones, Bicycles, Cars, TV, Gym Shoes, You name it. Airplanes are no different, Wright Brothers till WWII, then rapid advancement until 2000 or so and now just minor advancements.

So I don’t really expect much if any “Great leaps forward”.

Cheers
 
Shepherd said:
At some point, having a PPL and owning an airplane will become illegal,
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I worry about that. A friend of the family who is very much into government regulation of everything is quite vocally opposed to the existence of light planes and private pilots because they don't fit into her worldview of things needing control. I hadn't known her long at all when she told me 'I can't believe you can just get in your plane and go wherever you want. That's not right'. I recall looking from her, to her minivan, back to her, back to her minivan, hoping she would make the connection. She did not.
 
GaryM said:
I worry about that. A friend of the family who is very much into government regulation of everything is quite vocally opposed to the existence of light planes and private pilots because they don't fit into her worldview of things needing control. I hadn't known her long at all when she told me 'I can't believe you can just get in your plane and go wherever you want. That's not right'. I recall looking from her, to her minivan, back to her, back to her minivan, hoping she would make the connection. She did not.
Click to expand...

Pqf42aX.jpg
 
GaryM said:
I worry about that. A friend of the family who is very much into government regulation of everything is quite vocally opposed to the existence of light planes and private pilots because they don't fit into her worldview of things needing control. I hadn't known her long at all when she told me 'I can't believe you can just get in your plane and go wherever you want. That's not right'. I recall looking from her, to her minivan, back to her, back to her minivan, hoping she would make the connection. She did not.
Click to expand...

I think you'd be surprised to know she isn't alone. That is where the statement "The airplane was not on a flight plan" has become standard language in any accident news report. The general public is astounded to discover you can fly without a flight plan, that there are airports with no tower, and that people randomly take flight without having to tell anyone.
 
I'm having a flashback (not that kind) to a conversation I had a couple/three years ago.
I was doing a pre-flight on a Cub and some random woman walked up to me and asked "Who gave you permission to fly that plane?" Being the person I am I responded "The FAA."
She gave me a smug look and said "Good". and walked away.
In light of all the strangeness in the world about flying in the last few years, I am now wondering if I totally misconstrued the purpose of that question.
 
The FAA mandated autopilot that will be required in all aircraft will be programmed with all of the areas "they" do not want you to go (ala newer drones) and Class B airspace incursions without a clearance will become a thing of the past...

This ia what I envision for both Automotive and Aviation futures:

Autopilot (upon power up): "Where would you like to go today?"

Occupant (formerly known as "Pilot" or "Driver"): "Let's take a ride up to the mountains. It has been a while since we've been to Grand Junction."

Autopilot: "I am sorry, but you do not have sufficient Social Credit for a trip to Grand Junction. How about a nice quiet ride to El Paso instead?"
 
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