John Harvey on Dan Davies - "Back of Mind"

Didn't know about that STOL proposal. Fixed-wing aircraft flying low over the East River? Sounds absolutely crazy. But technically possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdq0WjPO_0w I put a link to the Cirrus East River crash below: My thoughts: 1. Maybe we need to work on trust before scale. 2. The people of NY might not actually be crazy about how many aircraft can safely fly in that busy airspace around Manhattan. Look at what just happened over the Potomac in DC... Leaving aside the, um...planes crashing into the World Trade Center...and the Miracle on the Hudson landing in the river...here are some bad things that happened in NYC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_New_York_City_Cirrus_SR20_crash https://www.wired.com/story/ntsb-flynyon-nyc-crash-investigation-report/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/10/23/Traffic-reporters-last-words-Hit-the-water/9422530424000/ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/16-may-1977/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_New_York_mid-air_collision There is a toxic brew of traffic in this river + city + airports + heliports environment. A floatplane hit a boat in Vancouver harbor while taking off: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-coal-harbour-seaplane-crash-boat-rare NY has some of the busiest airspace in the world. Like Manhattan, it is not getting any bigger. Maybe infinite growth is just not possible here. Wealthy New Yorkers like to fly helicopters to get to their weekend places on Long Island. You can expect demand for electric drones on that route in the near future. They may have to go without. The "little people" live there too. (BTW my late brother worked for Island Helicopters, flying celebrities and executives in a charter Learjet out of nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, the place Sully realized he could not glide to.)