A Few Curmudgeonly Words on Those Electric Commuting Helicopters

There has been a lot of press on them over the last week or two. I have some thoughts.

First off, they are going to need helicopter pilots with commercial ratings to fly them. A lot of pilots. Where are they going to get them, unless the companies send their own people through a training mill? Helicopter licenses are expensive to get, far more expensive than fixed-wing licenses.

So they are going to be hiring from the bottom of the barrel, for any pilot with experience is going to go where the real money is,and that's not schlepping two people from lower Manhatten to JFK or laGarbage and back. Yes, I know they claim that they are four seaters, but four seaters with luggage? Nope.

Second, while localities may not be able to stop those things from flying over them, they damn sure can regulate where they land. You aren't going to be able to call an airUber to pick you up from the nearest public park.

Third, if something goes wrong, you likely will die. Adult helicopters have large rotors; if the engine fails, the pilot quickly transitions into autorotation. That uses the airflow over the rotor to keep it turning, which results in a very fast, very steep, controlled descent. If the helicopter goes too slowly, the rotor stops turning and then the helicopter assumes the flight characteristics of a similarly-sized box. (There is a zone of flight, translational flight, from takeoff to cruise (and vice versa) where the helicopter is not going fast enough or high enough to autorotate in the event the engine fails, which means you die.) The electric helicopters have little rotors that are too small to autorotate. So if the electrical system shits the bed, well, you might as well hope you're over a cemetery, because that's where you're ending up.

Fourth, if those things are flying en masse to a large airport, they are going to saturate the air traffic control system. The FAA already has problems hiring, training and retaining enough controllers as it is. Your airLyft might take seven minutes to buzz to the airport, but it might have to wait ninety minutes for its landing slot. You might be better off taking a black car.

Fifth, if there is a way that these things will be able to fly IFR and comply with Part 135.215 et sec., I don't see how.

Sixth, keeping with Part 135, look at 135.209(b). Twenty minutes of power reserve would seem to be a good chunk of the possible range of the things.

And keep in mind that light helicopter flight over land is a fairly hazardous endeavor to start with. The FAA isn't going to care very much if the pilots kill themselves doing it, which is why ultralights are almost unregulated. As the aircraft get heavier and carry more people, the FAA cares more. And when they crash and kill people on the ground, then they care even more. A few crashes near the pickup points and, like the PanAm building helipad, those will go away, too.

I wouldn't be one to invest anything with the eChopper companies that I couldn''t afford to lose. And I damn sure am not sitting my pink ass in any of those flying coffins.