As my first article on this Blog, I was going to write a well-deserved account on Risen, manufactured by Porto Aviation, that broke the World speed Record not once, but twice, just to make sure. The marvel plane is clearly highlighted in Planes & Sails photo gallery. However, when the J-2000 exploded onto my laptop’s screen hurling me back in more time than I care to remember, it forced me to treat this “appearance” as Breaking News, just like in the old days, a twitch of the fingers and the keyboard was ablaze. The adagio is decidedly not a cliché!
A few months ago, on February 18th 2021 to be precise, mankind landed its latest mechanical rover, “Perseverance” on Mars. Definitely front-page material in the West vs. East race to the Moon in Reagan’s era, but today, a mere ripple. It would need nothing short of sighting a Martian to change things in this millennium! On the other hand, the excitement and goggle-eyed type reaction I experienced when I saw this photo, jolted me upright in my chair as if I were still in the paper business. Let’s face it, compared even to the days of Armstrong’s moon landing back in the 60s, what lies below could only be the fruit of either the wildest dream or of an incredibly crazy night out!
Why the WOW? Well, look at it. No propellers, no jet engines that can be recognized as such, no anything that vaguely resembles a traditional plane as we know them today. The future is already here brought to us by Jetoptera, a Seattle based company, with its visionary J-2000 vertical take-off aircraft (VTOL). Contrary to the more traditional intercity aeroplanes, or flying cars as they’re often called, the Jetoptera has no visible propellers spinning around to produce multidirectional thrust but has its own Fluid Propulsion System or FPS to its friends. The Jetoptera for the peace of mind of many, does have some sort of wings, although perhaps winglets would be a more appropriate term in today's jargon.
Though VTOLs, have always appeared to be the best answer to abolish the need for huge areas with long runways, they were mostly conceived for military purposes much to the success of the British Hawker Siddeley conglomerate, notably, through the RAF’s Harrier Jet. Nowadays, however, with the surge for greater alternative mobility, VTOL aircraft are construed to beat heavy traffic congestions in metropolitan cities as opposed to flying over war zones.
It seems like light years have gone by since flying machines were envisaged in an unknown future in the memorable "Flintstones" TV series and I wonder how indeed Leonardo da Vinci, the forefather of all this would react on seeing where his first idea of a flying machine has got us today. We’ll no doubt have to wait a short while before the J2000 grows from its current miniature testing size to being ready for our garages, but I really can’t wait to wear my “Proud to fly J2000” Polo shirt .... can you😊
Michael E.L. Hall
Founder Planes & Sails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ARFa7HE3c