Chicago to debut first commercial electric air taxi route

The Hill ^ | 03/24/2023 | Devan Markham and Nick Smith

[ChicagoConservative27]

CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Chicagoans may soon be able to fly over airport traffic on their way downtown.

In two years, Chicago will become the debut city for the first commercial electric air taxi route, according to a joint press release by Archer Aviation Inc. and United Airlines.

Archer and United announced plans to launch the commercial electric air taxi service on Thursday, saying they chose Chicago because it “is the third most populous city in the United States, a center for business, innovation and investment, and home to United’s headquarters. This makes it a unique city for Archer and United to build out.”

[technically right]

Well if you go to Archer’s website they’re saying that the thing will get an FAA airworthiness certificate by 2024. Fat chance of that. Even conventional design aircraft built by the likes of Boeing, Cessna, Piper, et al never meet their original projected certification date for new aircraft. They also seldom meet their original estimated cost of production and neither will this Archer gizmo. A few flying prototypes might get built, certification will be delayed continuously and in the end hundreds of millions of investor and tax payer subidy dollars will be wasted.

[Dagnabitt]

Good points

[fretzer]

Boondoggle.

[The Louiswu]

Given time this is the future, it may no be the best thing, but it will be the next thing and it’ll be a thing until something else comes along. In twenty years no one will think twice about flying in one of these and I’ll be long dead so it won’t matter to me.

[The Louiswu]

"Truly progressing to the future, the first gang related “fly by” may happen in Chicago in my lifetime!"

I suspect some big brain thug will use a drone to drop (like the Ukes do in Ukraine) an IED or do a flamethrower hit on someone in the near future.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Do they come with mandatory parachutes in case of battery fire? Some European ferries have banned EV autos from their ferry services due to fires. Will some Chicago communities ban these proactively?

[DPMD]

No worries. The batteries will have enough power to fly the planes all the way to the crash sites. (H/T ron white).

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist."

That's what I used to think, but we may be surprised. Interairport travel is important in a lot of cities. (NY, SF, LA, Chicago, Houston, etc). There used to be helicopter service between airports in a lot of those cities, but that service faded away. This could be an excellent replacement for that service.

I used the conventional helo service between Oakland, CA and San Francisco, CA a few times and was shocked at all the noise and vibration in those machines. For those unaccustomed to it, it is quite jarring. These VTOL or STOL electric planes could offer a smooth and quiet ride for passengers between airports.

I met the CEO of a competing electric plane company, Aska, in their showroom in Los Altos, CA. I challenged him a lot on the aircraft being a solution looking for a problem to solve. He had lots of good market scenarios that made sense. Short flights to vacation destinations, to ski resorts, or to work. In congested, built-out places with extremely high real-estate prices, the electric planes could allow employees to live a couple hundred miles from work and commute to work by air. Initially, the aircraft will require a licensed pilot, but eventually the aircraft will be autonomous and eliminate the need for a licensed pilot. I don't know when that will happen (5 years? 10? 25? 100?), but I have no doubt it will happen. STOL or VTOL aircraft eliminate the need to fly to an airport and then commute the last 5 to 25 miles to work. Instead, you fly to your work and park your airplane there.

[Bob434]

[[So... Instead of a single Jesus nut to worry about, we now have 10 of them when it’s taking off and landing]]

Huh? What have Christians got to do with vertical takeoffs and landings?

[mund1011]

Avoid the Chicago traffic by avoiding Chicago.

^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^

Winner of this thread. My policy as a lifelong resident of the greater Chicagoland area.

[muffaletaman]

I believe most if not all of these small electric VTOL craft have parachute systems built in for vehicle recovery in case of emergency.

[gibsonguy]

The Jesus nut holds the blade in place. It is called that because if it comes off while you are in the air Jesus is the next person you will see.

[ltc8k6]

How loud is it with 12 props?

[dznutz]

Great, now we may have the equivalent of WWII German V-2 rockets traversing the skies over Chicago.

[dznutz]

……as if the small arms fire isn’t bad enough.

[Abathar]

The nut on the end of the rotary shaft of a helicopter is called a Jesus nut, it’s what holds the whole rotor assembly to the aircraft. It’s called that because if it ever fails while in flight, well, you’re going to go see him real fast.

[Bob434]

ah ok- couldn’t figure out how ‘Jesus nuts’ fit into the story lol

[Bob434]

thanks- was confused there for a minute lol