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Dr. Petr Beckman
Access to Energy
P. O. Box 2298
Boulder, CO  80306
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Dear Petr,

	I rarely find so much to disagree with as I did in your
November issue, and it's all about one thing---computer control.

1. The only thing that worries me about the Volantor is noise.
The picture suggests that it would be noisier than a helicopter,
because of its compactness.

2. The skies aren't intrinsically crowded; they are crowded by
regulation.  Every advance in measurement technology and
control technology should allow airplanes to fly closer
together in all three dimensions.  If the separation could
be reduced by 2 in 3 dimensions, 8 times as many airplanes
could be accomodated, if by 10, 1,000 times as many
airplanes.  I believe the technology to do this exists or
can be developed.

3. The technology to reduce separations may require computer
control.  This control can be made arbitrarily reliable by
duplication of microprocessors.

4. Mechanical failure is not so easy to eliminate, but it
can be enormously reduced by designing for computer-controlled
inspection.

5. The solution for a shortage of freeways is again computer
control.  Present freeways have 12 foot wide lanes although
cars are 5 feet wide.  With suitable computer control,
80 mph bumper-to-bumper traffic can be achieved with
better safety than we have today.  This does not require
artificial intelligence to any significant degree on controlled
access freeways.  A computer chauffeur that could negotiate
city streets and driveways safely would require a degree of
AI that is probably many years in the future.

6. I would much prefer small aircraft to larger ones and
many more small airports.  This requires a solution of
the noise problem.

7. I enclose an old unpublished article of mine on the
subject of replacing cars by airplanes.  I believe it
to be feasible but not in the present anti-technological
ideological climate.  I just attended the 25th
anniversary meeting of the National Academy of Engineering.
The good speeches were made by John Sununu and Fred Seitz.
The others made too many concessions to people who
think engineers are devils.  I'm exploring the possibilities
for getting the engineers to stiffen their backs.

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Best Regards,
John McCarthy
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