Posted on 10/03/2025 7:08:59 AM PDT by DFG
Planes, trains and automobiles can be seen moving in AllianceTexas in north Fort Worth, but a start-up aviation company says making a "sky train" is starting to come to fruition in the area.
The company, Aerolane, announced its headquarters at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport in April. During an Oct. 1 event at the airport, a crowd that included Hillwood executives, investors and U.S. Congressman Jake Ellzey saw Aerolane's towed cargo glider technology in action as a plane took off with another plane tethered behind it.
Aerolane, which consists of former executives from Prime Air and BNSF, envisions using gliders to tug cargo as a way to save energy for future customers and make air cargo transportation more efficient.
Now, Aerolane is waiting for certification to implement its technology on a commercial scale. The company is currently going through a series of design approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration to convert existing aircraft into tow gliders. Customers have already signed up for the tow technology, known as the AC0. Watson said Aerolane contracted $300 million with a customer described as a large regional carrier, but would not disclose the name of the company. Watson described the customer as "one of the most important and largest regional carriers that serves the United States, but also flies to and from Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada.
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I’d like to see it land in a crosswind.
AVIATION PING!...................
You beat me to it.
D-Day Redux
As often as not, the gliders turned out to be single use.
We’ve all seen it before and undoubtedly they got the idea from what the USAAF did in the war.
Remains to be seen how effective it is in commercial use. Will depend on the average flight profile.
What could go wrong?
should this ever actually get off the ground commercially, the first glider that crashes into a neighborhood will terminate this whole nonsense ...
Air Traffic Control: “Go around, Go around. Execute missed approach.
Response: “Nope”
TCAS: “Climb, Climb, Climb”
Response: “ “
They will need to limit these to Freight/GA only airports in rural areas to prevent ‘incidents’ with passenger planes and folks on the ground.
Say Winder for Atlanta, North Texas Regional for DFW, etc.
2 AMAZON DRONES HIT A CONSTRUCTION CRANE YESTERDAY—MISSED WHERE
Or maybe they could just catch ‘em in big nets.
You’re right, all the repurposed air bases like Mesa Gateway and the others you named would have to be the destinations, but that was always the plan for the cargo biz...
Still should be interesting when the errant field service truck accidentally drives on to an active runway...eek! Can’t go around...
The drivers will hopefully be fully qualified and licensed, no foreigners please.
The main purpose of this start up is to collect investor/government money. Then go bankrupt. Like always...
“Then go bankrupt. Like always...”
There are always a few exceptions like Apple, Google, Amazon, NVidia, SalesForce, Uber, AirBnB, Netflix, Tesla, Facebook, Cisco, Oracle, Instagram and some others.
Oh yeah I see zero problems with any of this.... /s
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