VTOL 101: Why VTOL is the Future of Flight pt 3
This is part 3 of our series, where we discuss why we believe VTOL is the future of flight.
Although we already addressed this question at various junctures throughout this series(part 1 & part 2), let’s take a moment to dive in deep.
As populations continue to swell, and connectivity becomes an increasingly important part of effective participation in the global economy, nations must contend with the challenge of satisfying the rising demand for the movement of people and goods across the globe. To alleviate these issues, providing individuals with ready access to VTOL-based methods of air transportation is critical.
In cities, the land is already saturated with roads, bridges, and the other structures demanded by land-based forms of travel. Here, traditional infrastructure is at a breaking point. Since VTOLs are able to launch and land with minimal drift and extreme accuracy, they provide city dwellers with a point-to-point form of transportation that circumvents current infrastructural issues. In rural areas, since they can touch down at nearly any location, and don’t need to follow fixed routes during flight, they can traverse a desolate countryside and reach individuals who are not adequately served by our current transportation infrastructure. In other words, VTOL opens the broader world to all individuals — no matter their community of origin.
VTOL aircraft can also navigate hazardous emergency zones to transport people and equipment from positions that are closer to their point of origin and ultimate destination. In crisis situations, the value of this point-to-point method of transport cannot be overstated.
Research shows that VTOL based transport that can convey patients in critical condition from an accident directly to healthcare facilities, or bring our military forces directly to their intended targets, could save an untold number of lives.
Of course, one could argue that non-VTOL aircraft are able to avoid most of these hazards — congested cities, rural countryside, and dangerous emergency zones — as they spend a majority of their travel time in the air. However, traditional aerial vehicles require airbases and runways to operate. As a result, individuals can only get so close to their intended destination and need to use current road systems in conjunction with air transport.
This is deeply problematic for two primary reasons: our military personnel are still exposed to the hazards of land-based forms of travel, albeit for less time, and everyday citizens are still forced to contend with congestion or the difficulties that accompany traveling to airports from remote areas. If this isn’t troubling enough, air carriers are consolidating their networks at unprecedented rates.
This decreases the number of available airports and increases the distance that individuals must travel in order to secure a flight on a traditional aircraft. The result is substantially diminished connectivity — a problem which VTOL is perfectly positioned to rectify.
VTOL aircraft also have significant cost advantages over more traditional modes of transportation. Even though it is currently cheaper to build an individual train, bus, or car, as economies of scale are introduced into the VTOL ecosystem, the cost of producing VTOL aircraft will be dramatically reduced.
Additionally, land-based modes of transport are all centered on heavy-infrastructure approaches that add a number of costs that aren’t accounted for in standard production analyses. They require a host of physical and regulatory assemblies, such as railways, bridges, tunnels, complex systems that reroute traffic and manage signals, and so on.
Such infrastructure comes with high price tags and costly maintenance fees. If that’s not convincing enough, in 2017, traffic congestion cost the U.S. economy a staggering $305 billion, and that’s expected to increase to $481 billion by 2026. Creating alternative modes of air travel is — in many ways — a cost saving device.
While VTOL technologies may have their hurdles that they must surmount when it comes to infrastructure, most of these obstacles are strictly regulatory or logistical in nature. Once the initial parameters are established, these systems cost far less to update and maintain. In fact, a recent NASA analysis found that point-to-point forms of air transportation would bring in at least $19 billion in annual revenue by 2035.
In the end, it does not matter whether one is invested in cost-saving measures or increasing the quality and longevity of life. VTOL technologies stand to benefit society in all of these eminently important arenas.
This is part 3 of our VTOL 101 series, thank you for reading. In our next post, we’ll be covering where we are today & where we need to go in VTOL. Stay tuned!
If you have any questions and/or just want to say hello, reach out. We love speaking to enthusiasts, investors, engineers, and anyone who loves flying!
