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by n_ermosh 685 days ago
thanks!

Yes, it's that entire helmet-fire that makes flying hard and often dangerous. But what the accident data shows is that these kinds of problems that you mention occur, and then the pilot loses control of the plane. If we give them the ability to relax, think through their situation, and make a good decision because at least the airplane will continue to descend safely towards the runway, we make safer pilots.

2 comments

I just want to say I love what you are doing, you are solving a problem close to my heart. This is the sort of hard tech company that YC (and SV) should invest more in, not silly SaaS and ChatGPT wrappers. That being said, after fly by wire, would you be interested in tackling the GA engine economics problem? They are closely linked. If you solve that, the TAM for your product expands massively, and your exit opportunities are no longer limited to just being acquihired by Garmin.

https://airfactsjournal.com/2022/10/the-20-hour-cessna-172-e...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34728405

Yes, lowering all operating expenses by moving to more efficient engines and greener propulsion systems is on our roadmap as "the next problem"
Do you plan to increase your plane's range by the way? The current range is lower than most Skyhawks and DA-40s.

Also you should offer radio altimeters and ring laser gyros as an upgrade.

Will those that purchase your highly polluting engine get a free on-the-house upgrade to this nebulous green future that likely won't happen?

How are you planning to offset the enormous amount of pollution you want to create in the mean time? Are you purchasing carbon credits? Planting trees?

In single pilot IFR, an autopilot is often your best friend. It's exactly like you say - when you're busy with everything else you want the plane to fly itself. Isn't that problem already somewhat solved in a sense? Or are you referring to Garmin Autoland (or similar) in emergencies?

By the way - I can totally see how a great GA fly-by-wire system is an improvement to maintain positive control of an aircraft at all times. I'd personally love to give it a try and see how it reduces pilot effort while flying.

It's solved for the "cruise in a straight line" sense, but for emergencies or much more dynamic situations like a final approach, autopilots don't really help all that much. We can set up our VNAV and everything, but the second we get an unexpected clearance because something changed or we need to be diverted for a faster airplane or something, you need to be a real pro at using the autopilot to quickly adjust, or hand fly. We're offering a third solution--blend the two into one unified control interface.