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Mar 31, 2016 at 4:18 comment added Vakus Drake I just googled it and people can go insanely fast with wingsuits en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsuit_flying I also suspect that rocket propelled wingsuits will really take off now that people can take off from the ground really easily, and land really easily. Now that i'm aware of rocket wingsuits, i'm not actually sure why anybody would still buy small aircraft exclusively for recreation.
Mar 31, 2016 at 4:12 comment added Vakus Drake Oh and while some people will still find flying Cessna's fun I'm not sure that really implies that using the "rope trick" to board them will get as popular.
Mar 31, 2016 at 4:10 comment added Vakus Drake Even though Cessna's are quite a bit faster than flying I just don't see them being as much fun, something about being uncontained seems like it would make flying unhindered better. Also, while Cessna's are faster going sideways, since people can fly down at terminal velocity + 30mph i'm not sure how much more the speed will really matter to people. Also if people buy wingsuits (which will almost certainly become very popular) then they can fly way faster than 30mph by getting really high up and turning that potential energy into more speed.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:57 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake You can fly at 30 mph. The cessna goes faster. If you can't see why then you are just no fun.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:52 comment added Vakus Drake Yes there would be plenty of laws regarding flight, but I don't really see using flight to board aircraft being a big enough thing to warrant new laws. As for comparing it to skydiving, skydiving has unique dangers whereas the only danger I can imagine from the "rope trick" is people accidentally colliding with the airplane. As for it being as widespread as skydiving, well I imagine that this would kill skydiving for one, but other than being convenient in a few narrow circumstances I don't see why it would become widespread. I don't really see why people would do this for recreation.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:46 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake I see no reason it wouldn't be as widespread as sky diving, which has plenty of laws.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:34 comment added Vakus Drake Oh well if it isn't intended to be commercially viable, then as I said before it will be limited to the wealthy, and those whose friends have cessna's, but it wouldn't be widespread enough to even bother making laws about.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:24 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake I'm not pitching a business plan. Hell, owning a cessna isn't commercially viable now. This isn't going to change that. Owning a cessna is about freedom. People will do this because it's fun. People will create laws about it because it's too much fun.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:14 comment added Vakus Drake Hmm yeah if the rope doesn't have to totally stop, then you wouldn't be flying in a circle you might just be making a brief U-turn or something. That does make it a bit simpler. Of course there's still the previously mentioned problem that you need be in a area where a small plane can't land for it to be worth it. Also it hadn't occurred to me before but it seems like this would never be commercially viable, because I'm pretty sure there are a lot of laws about where you can fly a low altitude aircraft that might make this only legal in some areas.
Mar 31, 2016 at 3:02 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake You're missing my point. Being able to fly without a plane at 30 miles an hour means the cessna doesn't have to complete this maneuver. They just have to turn enough that the rope slows enough for you to catch it.
Mar 31, 2016 at 2:26 comment added Vakus Drake Well on the video you linked to it was very insistent that this was a hard maneuver, yes it's just flying in a circle, but it's a pretty tight circle to the point you're nearly sideways. As for the thing about going to the airport to hitch rides... If you're already somewhere where a plane can land and take off then the being able to fly doesn't actually provide any benefit. By it's nature, for this midair boarding to be that worthwhile, you need to be far enough from anywhere you can land and take off for you to justify not just doing that.
Mar 30, 2016 at 6:37 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake Really good? You just have to be able to fly in a circle. You don't have to be wealthy. Not with fuel costs dropping. Just either in a hurry or looking for some fun on the end of a rope. You can visit a municipal airport and see pilots posting flight plans today asking if anyone wants to come along and split the cost of fuel.
Mar 28, 2016 at 6:31 comment added Vakus Drake But even if it doesn't get that big it will probably exist on a small scale with the wealthy or just with people whose friends have cessna's (and are really good pilots)
Mar 28, 2016 at 6:30 comment added Vakus Drake Ok, but the video does make it clear a fair amount of skill is involved, and for a plane pooling thing to be viable you need a pretty massive number of people with the requisite skills. Also I still don't know how much it would cost, but to take off I imagine it needs to be around that of preexisting stuff like uber. There's also the fact that while you can do a lot of things with this you can't do with uber, until it has already taken off there wont be enough of a need to generate demand. Of course I'm imagining what needs to happen for this to be comparable to uber.
Mar 27, 2016 at 13:20 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake Those buckets never left there line. I direct your attention to time 1:40 to 1:60 It's motionless for 4 seconds and was obvious where it was going to land 12 seconds before it leaves. I argue that the cameraman could have run up and grabbed it easily in that time. If he could fly he would have felt safe to do so. Last I checked the cessna was subsonic and could come with doors that can be opened and closed mid flight. That's why skydivers use them today. Yes, the outside is really loud. So add a winch. Use if you're in for a long flight.
Mar 27, 2016 at 11:41 comment added Vakus Drake Umm that video was of them dropping buckets, not catching stuff in midair... Anyway like I said this kind of thing while possible (probably would be used by militaries), it requires a lot of skill and would be extremely costly compared to other methods of transport. Basically it has a lot of the problems of supersonic flight, sure it's cool but the concord died. Which reminds me, i'm not to sure how you'd modify the plane so you could open it to let them in, but while the inside of planes is shielded on the outside it would probably be really loud.
Mar 25, 2016 at 22:17 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake found a youtube video of the trick. It's called the bucket drop.
Mar 25, 2016 at 22:01 comment added candied_orange @VakusDrake The point of knowing your plane's stall speed is so you can do exactly that. With the speed differential down you could do it with cessna and shock cord. Or you could just ask the pilot to do a few circles while you grab on to the line. People use this trick to deliver goods to the ground already.
Mar 25, 2016 at 12:46 comment added Vakus Drake Yeah a lot of people would get seriously injured from that kind of sudden sudden shock, not to mention you probably couldn't even rig that to something as small as a cessna. There's also the fact that jet fuel's expensive. Also Getting a plane as close to stalling as you can doesn't sound remotely safe.
Mar 24, 2016 at 2:33 comment added candied_orange Well you have a point. With flaps extended stall speed is 48 miles per hour in a cessna. Our pedestrians can do 30. That leaves 18 to account for. And I'd account for it like this. You can say that's crazy. I'd say that's why there'd be a law.
Mar 24, 2016 at 2:08 comment added Vakus Drake The "Cessna pooling" thing doesn't seem very likely. Even at low speeds basically any plane is going to be way faster than 35 mph, and .... well you see the problem. Something similar would potentially arise but it would have to use helicopters, or lighter than air aircraft. Also given the propellers of most craft there will need to be laws about putting a protective barrier around propellers like they often do with drones.
Mar 24, 2016 at 0:45 history edited candied_orange CC BY-SA 3.0
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Mar 24, 2016 at 0:35 history answered candied_orange CC BY-SA 3.0