More on the Personal Air Vehicle Challenge

... but not very much about what's happening during the PAV Challenge itself this week.

The CAFE Foundation's PAV Challenge page announces:

"The 2007 PAV Challenge is Underway!

August 4, 2007

Pilots, Researchers and Volunteers are actively testing aircraft at Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport this week as the PAV Challenge kicks off. Check back here for updates. We will be updating the PAV Video page with updates as well."

On the updates page, they state:

"Important updates on the PAV Challenge

The 2007 PAV Challenge is Underway!

August 4, 2007

Pilots, Researchers and Volunteers are actively testing aircraft at Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport this week as the PAV Challenge kicks off. Check back here for updates. We will be updating the PAV Video page with updates as well."

Update (August 9) on this section: These videos (inside the "=" lines) have been removed, but they now appear on Youtube in the CAFE Foundation Channel. I've updated the links to point to the channel but you're probably better off checking the channel to see what the latest videos are. There's currently a third video on the channel titled "CJ Stephens Flight Handling Qualities of the RV-4.

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Currently the PAV Video page has an older video with an interview about PAVs and the PAV Challenge. In case they update that page, here it is on YouTube: CAFE Foundation President Brien Seeley on Local Edition.

I also see that today the CAFE Foundation posted a video of flight testing during the Challenge called CJ Stephens Flight Handling Qualities of the Pipstrel Virus.

Hopefully we'll find more like this in the coming days.
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CNet News has a recent article that gives some background on the challenge, some of this year's competitors, and what the CAFE Foundation hopes to see in coming years.

Fast Company.com has a post that's critical of the PAV concept, but some of the commenters are more in favor of it and offer counter arguments. Some of the arguments don't persuade me too much. The worry about terrorists crashing PAVs into buildings or teenagers crashing PAVs into just about everything doesn't seem too persuasive, since the point of PAVs is that they're tiny vehicles that would cause about as much damage as a car... and cars already exist. Also, PAVs should not simply be the same as existing small airplanes. For example, they should be flyable by address, which isn't comparable to today's small planes. There are certainly hurdles to be overcome in these areas, both technically, legally, and organizationally, but it doesn't seem insurmountable ... just difficult. In the space area, we're accustomed to difficult problems that take decades to whittle away.

The actual course of events may be more of an evolution of today's car and air commuting towards something with some characteristics of both. It may or may not end up like the PAV vision of the CAFE Foundation. It will depend not only on the technological evolution of the PAVs themselves (Will they meet the safety and security challenges? Will they be as fuel efficient, reliable, and comfortable as hoped?), but also on public perception (which the competition may help to change over the years), reaction to the first PAV accidents, business interactions and pressures (for example from the auto and plane industries), legal changes, insurance, infrastructure (for example, will repairs be comparable to auto repairs? Will landing spaces be short enough that they can be found close enough to destinations for walking?), economics (PAV development costs, consumer price, ownership costs), and fashions (will PAVs be considered cool? Will they get good movie/TV/celebrity press?). As all of this takes its course, it will be important to consider the arguments of skeptics like FastCompany.com.

In other words, it's just like the new entrepreneurial space business!