At one time or another I have written about the future of aviation. Now I’m scared to predict anything.
At first I thought the future would be Diesel powered—but then the electric idea came up, and I was totally sold on that.
Airbus et al spoke up about hybrids, and I jumped on that with all four feet (I do have four—two I walk on and two I stick in my mouth a lot).
Then the Solar Impulse took off, and obviously the future would be dominated by electric engines with batteries charged by a blue jillion voltaic cells on wings.
Airbus has applied for patents on new, horrible and scary-looking seating arrangements. Will that be the big wave of the future? Maybe we will use forklifts to stack people like cordwood into “people pods.” You reckon? Also, it was reported just last week that Airbus applied for a patent on a rocket-powered supersonic airplane that could fly from London to New York in one hour!
Will drones take over the airlines (Well, uh, certainly not under this administration)? Will space ships depart and return to regular airports? How about this Perlan glider that is going to fly around at 90K feet? What role will it play?
I dunno, but have finally come to my real, definitely true prediction for the future of aviation:
The future of aviation will be different, and airports will adapt!
And that’s final!
