1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,520 Oh, hi. You must be RJ. I understand that you want to learn more about personal air 2 00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:12,640 vehicles, or we call them PAVE for short. Yes. Our class assignment is to try to determine 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:17,240 what transportation will look like in a hundred years. Now, from what I know from the PAVE, 4 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:21,440 it sounds like a project of the future. Is it actually a flying car? The basic idea behind 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,720 PAVE is not so much to make a flying car, but to make an air transportation system with 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:30,120 many of the same characteristics that we really like about cars. So how will PAVE work? 7 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,000 First, we need an airspace system that works a lot more like our highway system, with small 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,320 airplanes that work a lot more like our cars. How do you build highways in the sky? There 9 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:43,480 are already 5,000 airports, and many of them are hardly used. The Small Aircraft Transportation 10 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:49,280 System, or SAS for short, is working on low-cost electronics in order to give even the smallest 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:53,720 of these airports all-weather capability. These small airports could then be safely 12 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:59,520 used by anyone who'd like to fly instead of drive. Sounds great. What would a personal 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,240 air vehicle look like? Well, we have several concepts that range from mild to wild. On 14 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,760 the mild side, it looks a lot like small airplanes of today, but with some big differences. For 15 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,440 example, there will be a ducted fan instead of a propeller, and engine muffling. Both 16 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:18,520 will dramatically help to reduce noise. Now, I know airplanes are really expensive. Will 17 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:23,320 I be able to buy my own PAVE? It will be more expensive than a car, but less than an airplane, 18 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,320 and that's because it will use a lot of car parts and have a streamlined design. Are planes 19 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:32,000 difficult to fly? Right now, we have robotic airplanes that do most of their flying without 20 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,520 help, but they're not that reliable. So, what's a wild PAVE going to look like? Well, it's 21 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,020 called a gridlock commuter, and it looks like a great big duct that carries one or two people. 22 00:01:41,020 --> 00:01:44,920 It doesn't go very far or very fast, but it only needs the space of a baseball field to 23 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:49,200 take off and land, and the best part is that you can drive it on local streets. Why does 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,760 it need to drive on the streets? To reduce what we call intermodal delay. Intermodal 25 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:58,120 delay? Yes, intermodal delay is the time we spend going from one mode of transportation 26 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:04,200 to the other. For example, today, we drive to the airport, park, walk to the airplane, 27 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,280 fly, and then reverse the process. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just have your airplane 28 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:13,080 take you the whole way? It sure would, but of course, we couldn't fit an airplane in 29 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:18,360 our garage. No, but you could live in a community that centers around a small airport, and all 30 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,200 of the houses would have a hangar as well as a garage. Is that what transportation is 31 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,640 going to look like in a hundred years? Actually, they already exist. There are at least six 32 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:31,640 airparks here in Virginia now, and there are many more across the United States. Wow, that's 33 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:37,000 awesome. Are there any other benefits to PAVE? Yes, PAVE makes it possible to have more choices 34 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,240 about where to live, work, or go to school. Studies have shown that most people are unwilling 35 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:46,200 to spend more than a little over an hour commuting. Before cars, you could only go a couple of 36 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,800 kilometers in an hour, but with modern cars, you can go 40 or 50 kilometers in about the 37 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,760 same time in heavy traffic. We're learning a lot about traffic. Dr. D and a couple other 38 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,280 treehouse detectives are still stuck on the highway. With a PAVE, that problem would be 39 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:06,240 eliminated for the most part. You would also be traveling at faster speeds than driving, 40 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,520 and there would be a reduction of intermodal delay. All these things would allow you to 41 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,920 live 95 or more kilometers away from work, which would make it possible for you to enjoy 42 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:19,280 both an urban and a rural lifestyle. That's awesome. That means I could live near my grandma 43 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:25,040 in the country and still work in the city. That sounds great. How soon will PAVE be available? 44 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,760 We're hoping to have a full-size flying demonstrator by 2010. After that, it could be as little 45 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,800 as two years for a manufacturer to put them in showrooms right next to old-fashioned cars, 46 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:40,400 so maybe by 2012. 2012? That's a lot less than 100 years. Leave it to NASA to be on 47 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,560 the cutting edge. Thanks, Mr. Hogg. You're welcome, and good luck, and don't hesitate 48 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,320 to call me if you need anything else. All right. Bye. Bye-bye.