PERSONAL AIR TRANSPORT - STATE OF THE ART

As congestion on roadways and at airports continues to increase and the cost of capacity expansion becomes prohibitive, new ways of addressing personal transportation needs have to be considered. This report attempts to address the state of the art in Personal Air Transport (PAT), commonly referred to as the "flying automobile". The report concludes that the PAT technology faces a number of technical, mechanical, regulatory, cost, and perception obstacles in its attempt to become economically feasible. No one of these obstacles appears to be insurmountable but the combination of which could keep the PAT from significantly impacting the personal transportation market.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Berkeley

  California Air Transportation Technology Center
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720

  California Department of Transportation

  Transportation Laboratory
  5900 Folsom Boulevard
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95819
• Authors:
  • Little, David D
• Publication Date: 1991-4

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: n.p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation; Landing; Private aircraft; State of the art studies; Takeoff; Technology; Traffic congestion; Traffic mitigation; VTOL aircraft
• Uncontrolled Terms: Congestion; Mitigation; Personal air transport
• Old TRIS Terms: Vertical takeoff and landing
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00608654
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CA/TL-91/03
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 31 1991 12:00AM