Last Updated on: 19th April 2016, 10:48 am
I just saw a story about a personal aircraft requiring minimal training and no pilot’s license and my mind screamed nooo! It didn’t stop screaming when they referred to these things as “Segways of the sky.” Yeah, because we need people flying planes like they drive Segways. That’s comforting.
I know that each of these babies costs $100000, so the sky likely won’t be littered with flying maniacs, but the whole idea still seems like it has disaster written all over it.
If the manufacturer feels that minimal training is required, will the people flying these things be required to check in with Air Traffic control? If not, how will other planes be able to avoid them? And, if they’re not given a lot of training, will they be able to understand any instructions given to them if they get lost or need help?
I know I probably sound like an old woman, but there’s a reason that pilots are required to get licenses and put in hours of training. It’s because flying is difficult and complicated, far more than driving a car is.
If these things make it out on the market, I wonder how long it’ll be before we start seeing reports of accidents involving these Segways of the sky. I’m especially interested in how many of these accidents will be deemed to have been caused by inadequate training. Or maybe I’ll be all wrong and it’ll all work out fine. I guess only time will tell.
