[Deritio]

It's not 'just' a safety concern.

It's the safety concern and it's flying over my head.

There is always a risk/benefit ratio and just because a handful of people want to spend more money so that they can fly faster from the airport to the city center than others is not worth the security implications.

You are aware how much security is involved whenever you fly?

We talk an expensive license, regular flying hours per year (also not cheap), air control, restricted air zones, very regular safety plain checks.

Every single object on a commercial plane for example is tracked, every replacement etc.

Congestion is not solved by small expensive air taxies. If a normal taxi costs x, an airtaxi has to cost 4x and more.

We the people don't need to allow everyone everything just because they have the money into do so.

[simonh]

Like I said, safety concerns are fine, these things should be properly regulated like any aircraft, but if they can be safely regulated then I don't see a problem.

>Congestion is not solved by small expensive air taxies

If you expect a new transport to 'solve congestion' as a requirement for it to be allowed, we're not going to allow anything. Incremental improvements can add up.

I just find these "I can't have it, so you can't either" arguments so short sighted. Lots of technologies start out the domain of the wealthy before achieving scale and mass adoption. Maybe we won't all be mass adopting air taxis, but some of the technologies that come out of these things may well end up in our cars, or houses, or benefiting us indirectly.

[wasmitnetzen]

Even existing regulated airplanes kill people on the ground every now and then. The risk is small, but I feel like the benefit of transporting ~100 people weighs out the risk much better than transporting ~1.

[simonh]

Fair enough, as I said in my first comment and have re-iterated in my later comment, that's fine. It's a reasonable concern. The safety issue is not really in contention.

My issue is with the argument that simply being wealthy enough (literally 'just because' he is wealthy enough. Check the comment I was replying to.) to do this is by itself reason enough to ban it.

All this redirection back to safety is a smokescreen to distract from the actual issue I'm concerned with.

[Deritio]

I say 'not over my head'.

I also say 'do not start polluting the sky's

And ' keep the noise down'

[simonh]

You don't have a lawn?