Basic_Ice_6774

So you’d say it’s maybe less about the actual environment and more about being able to stay on schedule and get the ratings done as soon as you can? I’m really asking as I’m looking at insight into why people may chose a school like ATP over the local part 61s

I acknowledge I am biased and see it through rose colored glasses….. I had personally considered ems, SAR, ect commercial use but I get what you’re saying. I just see market outside of the hub and spoke method of airlines today. There are remote regions that are hard/inconvenient to get to that these aircraft would serve a purpose. And maybe not on a huge scale, but in some capacity. However as another person mentioned, it will come down to if they can find a way to get operational costs down.

Definitely valid points. Tiltrotors as we know them today were designed with the battlefield in mind and that was their entire reason for existence. I don’t think the VTOL aircraft as we see now will be what enters the civilian market, I just can’t help but see it coming in some capacity. Maybe not on a large scale in the way passenger jets are used, but they will be around. But the key part will be as you said the financial side. They will have to find a way to make them financially viable or they won’t exist that I definitely do agree on.

I had not read that but I certainly will be. I agree that the skepticism isn’t unfounded, but I’ve always noticed that people are quick to dismiss or consider something unsafe because they don’t understand it rather than with actual facts and data. Mx issues and durability are hands down some of the biggest reasons I believe these machines haven’t made it into commercial spaces yet.

While obviously the hoops and difficulties of bringing a new aircraft to market can be a good thing, they really do stifle creativity and innovation. Take the 737 max. It was in Boeings best interest to convince the FAA the design was the same as previous models as to not need recertification. When you make things too difficult people will find a way around it. There’s always been risk takers in aviation. That’s how we got to where we are now. We need to promote more creativity rather than hold it back

What I will say on the AW program is that, it is essentially a mini v-22. The builds are almost identical. With that being said it has a lot of the issues the v-22 has that we’ve learned over the years. One of the biggest goals with the 609 is to write the FARs. The v-22 operates under “powered lift”. V-22 pilots do not earn the FAA equivalent of fixed wing or rotary wing time in the log book. It’s all power lift time (unless this has changed in the last 6 years). There are currently no FARs that I’m aware of that outline requirements for tiltrotor aircraft. Leonardo with the FAA is creating them. Once there is a clear cut path to what “is a tiltrotor” and well as what it must do to be produced and operate safely per the FAA it can start being produced but the current design is not what we’ll see in the actual market. It will be refined with what’s been learned since the program’s inception. There is a market and a large one at that and it can be viable. It’s creating a new “thing” that’s approved by the FAA in today’s (last 20 years) safety climate that is so difficult. With fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft being as old as they are those got pushed into certification before we knew what we know now so things are much much slower.

I don’t personally see blades model as being viable long term. They would have to operate on a massive scale to get costs low enough to have any sort of volume. It would take an incredible investment to bring their vtol to market and I don’t see them making that money back with individual charter services

Hadn’t given much thought to eVTOLs tbh and don’t know much about their development. You think it will be more used for charter and utility services? Not so much mid size passenger transport? Why do you believe so?

Interesting. Having never worked for an airline what would those engineers do different than a manufacturer? Do they have a bit more freedom to get creative? I know our engineers hands are tied a lot because they can’t deviate from the drawings without a whole chain of events that takes months.

I just enjoy the technical side of it. Improving on design and helping techs work through roadblocks. I certainly enjoy being on the aircraft and doing the work but my body is starting not to agree. Looking for the long term option that’s tbh a little cushier lol

I’d say look to the FAA. I can’t say for certain but there has to be roles within aircraft certification where maintenance documents and files need to be quality checked before certification. Also look at aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, Sikorsky, ect. I work for a manufacturer now and we have plenty of people whose job is it to quality check component serviceable tags, S/Ns and things like that.