Automated Cargo gliders

[invadertim]

So this outfit wants to “Disrupt” air cargo by building drone cargo gliders. There’s some stuff about jet emissions and pilot shortages in there too. The notion is, I think, to have other powered cargo aircraft tow these things and cast them loose near their destination. Seems they do have an electric motor, let’s them do a go-around or two. The current prototype is nicknamed “The flying Piano”.

Could the 'flying piano' help transform air cargo?

 

[Skåning]

What a dumb effing idea. The tow plane burns fuel, gliders have straight wings and go slow, making it a shorter range cargo transporter. So…just use a truck.

 

[CFI A&P]

What a dumb effing idea. The tow plane burns fuel, gliders have straight wings and go slow, making it a shorter range cargo transporter. So…just use a truck.

They’ll be driving a truck around to collect the gliders after the delivery has been made.

 

[luke3]

I thought higher interest rates put a stop to silly venture capital baiting ideas from tech bros. I guess they're still trying though

 

[killbilly]

I’ve read about cargo dirigibles as a possible alternative with some real potential but never a glider.

 

[Murdoughnut]

Cargo drones have so much potential for single items weighing less than X, while the Autonomous Caravan seems to be the future of regional feed. Not sure what space in the market this penetrates.

Reliable Robotics Flies Cessna Caravan Without a Pilot on Board

Reliable Robotics has flown an autonomous cargo airplane with no humans on board for the first time.

www.ainonline.com

 

[knot4u]

Cargo drones have so much potential for single items weighing less than X, while the Autonomous Caravan seems to be the future of regional feed. Not sure what space in the market this penetrates.

Reliable Robotics Flies Cessna Caravan Without a Pilot on Board

Reliable Robotics has flown an autonomous cargo airplane with no humans on board for the first time.

www.ainonline.com

I want pilots in the cockpit of any airliner I fly on and they have to cut their teeth somewhere, flying single pilot Caravans full of rubber dog poop from Omaha to Fargo at night sounds like fertile ground to grow pilots. We can't just eliminate the first portion of the route to airline captain. Pilots are inherently selfish when it comes to their chosen profession, they'll bend over backwards to help right up until it affects their bottom line, and then they'll start complaining. I already knew this a long time ago but a decade or so on this site has cemented that opinion. There are exceptions, but it's pretty much true.

 

[///AMG]

I have a friend/former squadron matte who is CEO of an aviation automation venture capital effort (for lack of a more proper term). His description of the approach the tech bros in the Bay Area have taken to anything in this realm is complete idiocy (their collective approach, not his description of it). Which is not surprising because 1) they know nothing about aviation, and 2) they are unusually dumb lemmings just as a general industry. A classic twofer

Yes, this will go nowhere, but some fools will be parted with their money in the process.

 

[Minuteman]

I’ve read about cargo dirigibles as a possible alternative with some real potential but never a glider.

ty for the 'alley-'

have the 'oop'

 

[Pilot Fighter]

I have a friend/former squadron matte who is CEO of an aviation automation venture capital effort (for lack of a more proper term). His description of the approach the tech bros in the Bay Area have taken to anything in this realm is complete idiocy (their collective approach, not his description of it). Which is not surprising because 1) they know nothing about aviation, and 2) they are unusually dumb lemmings just as a general industry. A classic twofer

Yes, this will go nowhere, but some fools will be parted with their money in the process.

Vaporware sells. Designing, testing, and producing stuff on a budget is hard.

I can think of so many vaporware aviation projects that invited such abundant press.

 

[stroboli62]

LOL Gliders in the urban environment....landing on the avenue, cul de sac, street

I gotta see this

Like CFI A&P says....the trucks will out collecting the gliders.....Gawd I wish there were some alive ol WWII glider drivers to come up with hteir thoughts