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Boeing's self-flying taxi completes its first flight
Multiple companies have outlined plans for flying taxis, but Boeing just took an important step toward making them a practical reality. The aircraft maker has completed the first test flight of its autonomous electric VTOL aircraft, verifying that the machine can take off, hover and land. It's a modest start, to put it mildly -- the taxi has yet to fly forward, let alone transition from vertical to forward flight modes. That still puts it ahead of competitors, though, and it's no mean… (www.engadget.com) Más...
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The article says - The electric power-plant isn't just for the sake of environmental responsibility -- it would ensure the aircraft is quiet enough to operate without irritating people below. All of the drones I have heard appear to generate a significant amount of their noise from the rotors, not the power-plant.
I know nothing about the noise level of the Boeing air taxi, but I own a hexacopter and it is substantially more quiet than similar-sized quadcopters -- more rotors turning at slower speeds eliminate much of the noise. Two hundred feet up most people won't know it's there.
A large aircraft like the Boeing air taxi won't be that quiet of course, but it will be much less objectionable than existing VTOL solutions.
A large aircraft like the Boeing air taxi won't be that quiet of course, but it will be much less objectionable than existing VTOL solutions.
Thanks, I did not know that. I wonder if this is a less expensive option for SAR or medivac
