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this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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The plane in the article is a 4 ton airplane, they mention plans to make an 8 ton commercial aircraft.
The Learjet 31 is 4.4 tons. It seats 8 passengers. The Cessna CitationJet CJ3+ is right around 4 tons with a maximum of 9 passengers.
The future 8 ton aircraft is around the size of the 10-ton Dash 8 Q200 with a maximum of 40 seats.
There are commercial uses for aircraft this small, but these jets are significantly smaller than most commercial aircraft.
Don’t private jets contribute a significant amount of carbon emissions? I remember seeing headlines about how much pollution was being created from Taylor Swift’s non-stop private jet usage. Wouldn’t this tech help at least reduce that kind of pollution?
The carbon comes from the fuel. Burning a ton of jet fuel will release the same amount of carbon regardless of the plane that burns it.
Taylor Swift's plane is a Dassault Falcon 7X. It weighs around 17 tons and seats 12 to 16 passengers.
Her plane burns 60% less fuel than a 737 MAX 8. However, her plane holds 9% of the passengers of the MAX 8, so its far less efficient per passenger than typical commercial aircraft.
Private planes are not a huge contributor to carbon emissions in comparison to others. They're bad, obviously. But there are far more commercial airplanes, and they fly much more frequently than private jets.
Private jets get people's attention. One person being directly responsible for that much carbon is notable is unconscionable. But it's the scale of transportation overall that is the issue.
Wow, I didn’t realize we’re so inefficient compared to large commercial jets. 60% of the fuel for 9% of the passenger capacity? And I’m guessing most private jets aren’t even at full capacity, probably just a few passengers per flight. If 2 billionaires flying their jets create as much pollution as a full commercial jet, then eliminating their emissions seems like a win to me.
Your original post seems pretty skeptical of the EV plane tech because they are smaller planes. To me it seems like a reasonable way to start - smaller machines and probably easier to sell. And it targets a very fuel inefficient sector. Is there any reason to believe they won’t be able to scale up to full commercial passenger jet sizes?
Her plane is worse than most. Its one of the last trijets in production. Planes with a small number of large engines are more efficient than planes with many small engines, which is why modern planes are all twinjets with wide high-bypass engines.
Airlines care about fuel efficiency. A minor reduction in fuel burn results in increased profits, and they operate large fleets. A small increase in efficiency across an entire fleet is huge. If you own a private jet, you are spending huge amounts of money to have one, the cost of fuel would only be a minor concern.
The solution to private jets is regulation. Private jets don't need to exist. They don't need to be replaced by another kind of airplane. The solution is to replace all planes on overland routes with electrified rail. Let the rich buy private railcars for transport.
I'm not skeptical on the concept of small aircraft. I wanted to give context because very few people will picture bush planes and puddle jumpers from the mention of "commercial aviation."
PS: My calculations for fuel burn were based on comparing the range to the fuel capacity. Those are the numbers I have ready access. Planes are much less efficient when the tanks are full, and swift's plane has a longer range, so it's probably not quite as bad as my calculations indicate on comparable flights.