I wrote:
> VTOL aircraft traffic can be high density and eventually it will be fully > automated. > Conventional fossil fuel VTOL can have higher traffic density than regular aircraft because the aircraft can slow down or hover before landing, whereas regular airplanes have to keep moving in a holding pattern. I think airplanes in a holding pattern are at least 5 km apart. (3 nautical miles?) Cold fusion VTOL can have higher density than fossil fuel ones because they could hover indefinitely. For example, when bad weather backs up traffic over an airport, incoming aircraft could hover above the rain clouds, in static horizontal arrays with the aircraft much closer together than today's airplanes flying a holding pattern. You would not want them in a vertical array. Traffic density would also be higher because VTOL do not have to move horizontally before reaching cruising altitude. They would go straight up. Some of them do not do this nowadays because it wastes fuel. They transition to horizontal flight as soon as they are clear of the ground, instead of going straight up. Suppose there were 10 aircraft taking off in one timeslot, all heading in different directions. They could all rise from the tarmac at the same time, as long as they rose from widely separated gates. After they reach cruising altitude they would fan out in different directions. The trick would be to have a westbound flight take off from the west side of the airport, so it does not have to cross paths with an eastbound flight. They would both rise straight up, then head away from the airport in opposite directions. Airplanes would take off an land a few hundred meters from the terminal gates they use. They would not need runways. The runway is the worst bottleneck. - Jed
