Hovercrafts

[CourtingErmine]

I just thought of this watching a 9/11 documentary, if we ever get personal hovercrafts, besides helicopters, will they be allowed to fly? Would governments allow it? Terrorists would fly them into buildings. Do we take that risk? This is hypothetical question. Thoughts? Arguments?

[Manjusri]

You do know we're already capable hovercraft technology, right? The only reason they aren't mainstreamed is because of the cost, and the fact that it's currently unnecessary.
Terrorists already fly things into buildings, we took that risks with airplanes, didn't we?

Whenever we come up with any new kind of technology someone is going to find a way to exploit it. You'd be surprised of the things we're capable of, but aren't publicized due to the high risk of terrorism or misuse.

[CourtingErmine]

Planes are now under strict security, and I know we're capable of hovercrafts. I'm just saying, having a hovercraft engine on Camaro, for example, you can easily turn that into a real weapon. Just think about it, hovercraft cars. There are so many flaws, the engine could fail at any minute and easily hit something even by accident. Not Judy terrorists. I know we're capable of a lot, but with so many threats, do the risks outweigh the benefits?

[Manjusri]

The risks currently outweigh the benefits, yes.

I know this is going to sound slightly crazy, and slightly off topic, but in order to become a highly advanced civilization with the use of high advanced technology, we need to become one. What do i mean by that? We need to become a united global force. We need to stop being separated by governments and work together as a planetary intelligence.

It sounds crazy yes, but think about it. We'll never be able to advance very far if every nation is out to get each other. But if we were to all work together, just imagine the things we'd be able to do.

Sadly though that will never happen. Everyone has too many different views, and no one likes to get along with one another. Why be nice when you can be slaughtering people?

So back on topic- yes hovercrafts are possible. Yes the risks outweigh the benefits.. for now.

[Inventor2]

Im more then sure anyone over a scertain age can apply for a piolates license and buy an aircraft. But small plains/helicopters/hovercrafts are very expensive

[CourtingErmine]

The risks currently outweigh the benefits, yes.

I know this is going to sound slightly crazy, and slightly off topic, but in order to become a highly advanced civilization with the use of high advanced technology, we need to become one. What do i mean by that? We need to become a united global force. We need to stop being separated by governments and work together as a planetary intelligence.

It sounds crazy yes, but think about it. We'll never be able to advance very far if every nation is out to get each other. But if we were to all work together, just imagine the things we'd be able to do.

Sadly though that will never happen. Everyone has too many different views, and no one likes to get along with one another. Why be nice when you can be slaughtering people?

So back on topic- yes hovercrafts are possible. Yes the risks outweigh the benefits.. for now.

It is very crazy, and that will most likely never ever happen if just one nation isn't in on it. That would be an ideal world. You ate very right about the fact that if we can't agree on anything, we won't advance as quickly as we could. It sad that it's the world we live in. And lol at that slaughter joke. Im more then sure anyone over a scertain age can apply for a piolates license and buy an aircraft. But small plains/helicopters/hovercrafts are very expensive
Yes, almost anyone can apply for a pilots lisence, but that's not what we're talking about. Small aircraft will become cheaper and more readily available in the future, I can tell you that.

[TheBigUnit]

Our curreent grasp on hovercraft isn't adept enough maybe when we re senior citizens the world will look like star wars haha

There prob be a no fly zone in cities until they can maybe put a magnetic field or some thing to push cars away

[MisterSix]

Hovercraft can't fly. It is impossible for a hovercraft to fly. People have converted them into ground effect vehicles but that means they have to be classed as ground effect vehicles, not hovercrafts.

And they are really hard to use. Its like driving a car on ice

[TheBigUnit]

Idt ernie meant hovercraft from the bayous, but instead flying cars

[CourtingErmine]

Alright, fine, flying cars, but when their made, how do we stop the terrorists.

[huginnmuninn]

Alright, fine, flying cars, but when their made, how do we stop the terrorists.

people can buy personal airplanes now and they could potentially use them for terrorism. but i would assume that it would be more effective for the terrorists to use larger planes and larger hovercrafts for the terrorism because the larger the flying vehicle the more effect it will have.

[TheBigUnit]

Yea I was thinking tht too, u really can't do much I mean remember tht one guy who stuffed his car w/ bombs in times square? If the car wasn't smoking it wouldve exploded

[FreeFall]

Hovercrafts hover so I think the law would be similar to a car, just maybe up to 6 feet off the ground? Flying cars, trying to not sound super Big Bro's Watching but maybe a device would be implanted in them to have an officer/law enforcer take control of the vehicle? Almost like bait car, when the would be thief no longer has control over the car?

[Iron Man]

Alright, fine, flying cars, but when their made, how do we stop the terrorists.

You are worrying about something that might or might not happen with a technology that doesn't even exist in the public market yet, related to a threat that isn't even a widespread threat on our soil, unless these "terrorists" you speak of are ninjas.

Even if everyone had a "flying car", would they really have the capacity to cause enough damage comparable to September 11? No.

[CourtingErmine]

Load the car with bombs, and a flying car could potentially cause that damage. And FreeFall, I like that idea of an officer taking control. Heck, maybe they should do that now in regular cars to make them stop when being pulled over. Super hard task, bit can be done.

[Abigballofdust]

The sole concept of hovercraft bugs me. I mean, let's say you invent technology to hover a car in air without it implementing a shitload of costs. So you bring it up, then what? There are about half a million to three quarters of a million vehicles descending upon Manhattan every day, move that into the sky, what do you get? How do you control it? Do you preload flying cars with coordinates so they follow virtual paths in the sky? How's that different from travelling on roads below? The point of flying is cutting down on distances and building up speed. The number of airplanes currently in the sky already makes it impossible for them to follow a straight line route from A to B, but they have to reroute through VORs to avoid collisions. Cars would only make all of this more crowded and impossible to control. Hovercrafts are a thing of the movies, it will never happen. Maybe one day we manage to fight the G force by making our cars hover like the maglev trains, but I think that's as high as we'll ever get.

[Zarakly]

Hey looks, they already started testing and developing one...
http://news.discovery.com/autos/hover-vehicle-being-tested-for-all-terrain-use-120828.html

[Human]

Well you could probably just fly a plane into a building too, or drive a car into a building.