> The problem is that small airplane technology hasn’t innovated and is stuck in the past. Flying a small airplane is complicated, mentally taxing, and dangerous—about 28x more dangerous than driving a car.
I am surprised you don't mention fuel efficiency. Flying a small airplane is much less efficient than driving a car, especially on shorter trips due to take off and landing.
No mention of pollution and some lip service to a "green future" because pollution is irrelevant for this type of individual who Just Doesn't Care about the environment they live in -- who would, when you can have VC money flying up your rear? Screw everyone else, he's got his!
A Diamond DA40 does around 28 miles per gallon (< 9 litres per 100 km) at 60% power cruise (5.1 gallons per hour at 124 knots). Sure, more than a car, particularly if you add takeoff and landing (though also note that in a plane you can go in a straight line rather than following roads). But it's not outrageously more so, and of course in aggregate much less than what cars consume now.
The environmental impact is not the main issue here.
> you can go in a straight line rather than following roads
Yep. You also need another type of transportation to bring you to the airport and back. Given the price tag I doubt the target customer would take the bus.
> But it's not outrageously more so
More than too much is way too much.
> in aggregate much less than what cars consume now
The aggregate value is totally beside the point since one could always make up some subcategory for which the aggregate is small. What counts is the unit value per person per year. Unless of course we assume it is ok for some people to mess with climate while the others do more than their part to compensate.
> The environmental impact is not the main issue here
also the fact that an airport is usually not where you live or work, and in the U.S. that means you're still adding to traffic pre/post flight with an additional need for a car on both ends of the trip.
I am surprised you don't mention fuel efficiency. Flying a small airplane is much less efficient than driving a car, especially on shorter trips due to take off and landing.
And cars are already burning too much fuel, so...