We have a wealthy couple who owns several chunks of land in and near our neighborhood. When I say “wealthy” I mean they have enough land holdings all over the world (not just Texas) and enough LLCs and Inc.s and business partnerships and cash flow that when they want to buy more property, they just do. Whenever, wherever.
Mr. Wealthy bought himself a helicopter a few years ago*, so he can fly to his holdings around here, cloud-dweller-like, without having to deal with Austin traffic, which is getting ferociously bad. Ms. Wealthy still drives her massive always-new Mercedes SUV around but I sense would just as soon like a helicopter for herself except she doesn’t have the pilot’s license that her husband has.
I have learned several things, as a “little people” standing outside, on the ground, working the ground.
- Good gravy… helicopters are noisy.
- When helicopters fly low over the land for inspection and monitoring, they are really really noisy. I have seen hawks, deer, foxes, songbirds and neighborhood cats flee in terror, erupting from cover to get away from the sound of the rotors.
- When Formula One happens annually in Austin, there are a lot more helicopters in the air so the noise factor jumps a coupla magnitudes.
- Helicopters are friggin obnoxious.
*I note that if one has a helicopter, one must therefore have purchased or rented the services for a hangar, a helicopter mechanic, a specialized fuel source, etc. That means either a private airport or a home-based helipad with all the staff that implies.
If flying cars are going to be a thing, getting the support system like mechanics, parts, legal infrastructure and the like will be rough-going. It’s going to take time. This is nothing like throwing some batteries in cars and making a Prius or a Leaf, and sending the industry-certified mechanics back to the classroom so they’ll know how to fix electric cars.
[North] Americans do flashy deranged crap to cars all the time. It’s traditional. Safety? Pshaw! “Is it cool” though? Well…
Lowriders:
Dukes of Hazzard tv show car “General Lee”:
Crazy ol’ “bigfoot” monster cars:
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/03/BIGFOOT5-side.jpg
Stretch Hummer limousines:
Etc.
Living in empire has is privileges. Like wasting staggering amounts of capital and time and fuel on monuments to ego like these cars. Is Page’s project a wild stab at greatness? Or did he contract a massive case of Affluent Gearhead Disease?
