The world may not be ready for a "Jetsons" lifestyle of newfangled flying machines but research at Kansas University might make flying a plane as easy as driving a car.
David Downing, a KU professor of aerospace engineering, is trying to drum up public interest about the university's involvement in a NASA project designed to make use of small aircraft and small airports, like Lawrence Municipal Airport, to make air travel a more usable form of transportation.
David Downing, professor of aerospace engineering at Kansas University, is leading part of a national research project called SATS, Small Aircraft Transportation System. Downing explained recently how the SATS program would make better use of small airports and aircraft for everyday travel.
"It's not going to be like the Jetsons where you can fly from your cul-de-sac to the cul-de-sac you want to be at," Downing told a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce crowd this week. "You'll still have to rent a car at an airport, but hopefully the airport will be a lot closer to where you want to be."
The project involves equipping every airport in the country with "smart technology" that would allow flights in all but the roughest weather and would interact with new instrumentation on airplanes designed to make them simpler to fly.
Downing said the goal of the project, called the Small Airplane Transportation System, is to allow travelers to more directly fly to their destination, rather than solely relying on the "hub and spoke" system of major airports.
"Our hub and spoke system is really almost saturated," Downing said. "There's not much opportunity to expand it, so we have to look in different directions."
The system could reduce reliance on roads and highways as well by making it easier for people to learn to fly and increasing the number of points they can fly from.
"Our goal is to create a transportation system that is at least four times faster than by car," Downing said.
The system would use technology such as advanced global positioning systems, which is already developed, and a less expensive version of radar still in the research stage.
Downing estimates it would cost about $300,000 for each airport to install the necessary technology and that existing planes could be retrofitted with the new instrumentation for about $45,000.
In the next 20 years, researchers hope to be able to introduce "smart planes" that would have the equipment already installed and be so simple to fly that an operator's license, rather than the more stringent pilot's license, would be all that was required to fly.
"Our goal is to make it as easy to fly as it is to drive a car," Downing said.
The downside is the aircraft would still cost $300,000 or more, making it unlikely most families will buy one to replace their cars. But Downing said the new technology may spur more air taxi services at smaller airports and more businesses may be willing to invest for the new aircrafts.
Test phases of the project are expected to begin by 2005. Downing, who is a member of the city's aviation advisory board, said the Lawrence airport may be in a position to qualify as a demonstration airport to test the new equipment.
"If we could land that designation, it could really put Lawrence on the map as a place to do aviation research and testing," Downing said.
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