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THE MOLLER SKYCAR - A GREAT FUTURE
THE AIR TAXI - A NEW MARKET CONCEPT
A new vehicle, the M400 Skycar, makes possible a new concept in transportation, the air taxi (initially, the air limousine).
The air taxi concept includes fleets of Skycars dispatched to pick up and deliver passengers from small vertiports or park-and-ride lots to their destinations 10 to hundreds of miles away.
Each air taxi franchise would include dispatch and maintenance facilities, ground control, communications with air traffic controllers and information from weather satellites - emergency landing areas would also be designated and maintained.
The various franchises would overlap and coordinate activities, including ground control and communications - these would also be provided to private Skycar owners for a fee.
These franchises would be expected initially to cover small areas - several hundred square miles - and be extended throughout entire countries, continents, archipelagoes, etc.
The franchises would likely be operated by local airlines or other established transportation companies and coordinated with other long distance (especially overseas) air and ground transport.
Why the Air Taxi concept is critical
Growing congestion at major airports. Growing congestion highways
A new transportation product must be fully supported, easier to use and maintain, less expensive, and clearly more beneficial than existing systems, or people will not accept the new form of transportation - the air taxi will have this support.
From a business perspective, a new product must also fill a need that is currently not being met, and create a new market to meet that need - new products can completely take over an existing market only when they have at least 3 times more benefits at the same or lower cost.
The air taxi concept provides that new market for the Skycar - later, as the Skycar is established in the air taxi market, it will make additional inroads into the old, established general aviation, automobile, and commercial jet markets.
Early phase - Air Limousine
The air taxi concept will initially be set up as an "air limousine" service with a licensed pilot to operate each vehicle - the maximum load per M400 Skycar will be 3 passengers plus the pilot.
Each air limousine fleet will have a central dispatch and maintenance facility, and will handle garaging, repairs, dispatch of rescue vehicles in case of emergency, navigation and weather information, and flight plan filing with conventional air traffic control authorities.
Businesses will save hours by using the limousine to fly executives, sales personnel, customers, etc. to facilities without being constrained by schedules or availability of airports.
High growth phase - Air Taxi
After electronic piloting capability has been added to the M400, an electronically piloted Skycar air taxi service can be offered, which will vastly expand the Skycar's market potential by lowering operating costs and permitting landing at many more locations.
Without the human pilot, the M400 passenger load will increase to 4 passengers per Skycar.
While the electronically piloted Skycar will be able to fly by itself, the on-board human pilot will be phased out gradually as people can become comfortable with the electronic pilot.
With electronic piloting, a ground controller will monitor the flight of many Skycars and be able to take control of any Skycar in case an emergency exceeds the electronic pilot's flight rules.
In flight, passengers will always be able to request immediate landing or changes of course and speed with the controller - the electronics on the Skycar will actually carry out the directions, consistent with air traffic control, rules of the road, and weather conditions, automatically making necessary maneuvers to avoid obstacles, gusts, etc.
Passengers will always be able to contact a human for immediate assistance and reassurance - the ground controller will know exactly where each Skycar is, the status of the vehicle, fuel, weather, etc., and will send out a relief vehicle if an emergency landing is required.
Why electronic piloting is inevitable
Electronic piloting is needed for three reasons: to make it possible for anyone to fly in the Skycar without a pilot, for safety, and to lower operating costs - therefore, electronic piloting must be done, done right, and put into the Skycar as soon as possible.
Electronic piloting is feasible now - most commercial jets can now be flown and even landed automatically - many people are not aware that the pilot actually needs to fly the jet for only about 2 minutes during the entire trip - also many unmanned vehicles are being used by the military.
Electronic piloting is being considered by large aircraft manufacturers - "Will the captain of a future ultra-high-capacity airline be on the flightdeck or the ground?" was quoted from an interview article with Bernard Ziegler, Airbus Senior VP for Engineering and former pilot, in Flight International, 9/23/92.
It has been suggested by aircraft safety researchers that, in emergency situations, more commercial airline passengers have died due to pilot error than have been saved due to pilot action.
Only minimal development is needed to adapt electronic piloting to the Skycar's aerodynamics - all elements of the technology are available now, or within easy reach - of course, software will have to be written for the Skycar system.
Although even the earliest version of the M400 Skycar will provide a great deal of electronic assistance to the pilot, and therefore will be easy to fly and safe compared with other aircraft, the Skycar's market potential will be limited until full electronic piloting is available.
The Skycar and ground facility computers will, under electronic piloting, automatically handle self-test, takeoff and landing sequences, cruising, navigating, communicating with air traffic control, maneuvering in gusts, avoiding other aircraft, and other normal flight operations.
The passengers will only have to tell the Skycar the destination - further instructions will be optional, and limited to speed, altitude, and request for change of flight path or early landing.
Electronic flight rules will eliminate the vast majority of possible airspace conflicts due to pilot or controller error - one of the flight rules would use prearranged highways in the sky.
Skycar ground controller and dispatcher
Skycar ground controllers and dispatchers will monitor Skycar movements.
The dispatcher's primary task will be to set up Skycar trips in response to passenger requests.
The dispatchers will also provide other services before, during, and after the flight, including coordinating ground transportation - taxis, limousines, buses, car rental, etc.
The Skycar ground controller essentially combines the functions of a ground-based pilot and an air traffic controller.
The ground controller will manage real-time information to, from, and between Skycars, the conventional air traffic control, weather sources, etc. - this is especially needed when a Skycar's radar visibility is limited by a heavy storm to about 10 miles.
The Skycar ground controller can take supervisory control of a Skycar in case an emergency overwhelms the on-board human pilot or (later) the electronic pilot system.
The likelihood of a Skycar transportation system outage due to failures at any single ground facility would be eliminated by having another facility within range to take over operation, if needed.