Such a vision captivated Bruce J. Holmes, a 28-year veteran of NASA and the manager of the agency's general aviation programs office. A decade ago, he began pushing for a new aviation infrastructure that would allow everyday travelers to navigate short-to-medium distances in safe, easy-to-operate personal aircraft.
Holmes' grand vision is still decades down the road, but NASA, along with a number of Florida businesses and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, are already involved in creating a system that's a step into that Jetson-like future -- and in the meantime could revolutionize the country's air transportation system.
About five years ago, NASA started planning a program called the Small Aircraft Transportation System, which was created last year. Over the next five years, the $69-million SATS effort hopes to capitalize on a new generation of less expensive, state-of-the-art jet aircraft, along with sophisticated guidance and communication technology, to open up commercial air service to the 5,000 or so small airports scattered throughout the country.
The system envisions a matrix of on-demand air taxi services, with small jets piloted by professional pilots, that would enable travelers to fly directly between small towns, avoiding big regional and hub airports altogther.
The program has found a base at Embry-Riddle, where faculty, staff and students will participate in both research and in building support among aviation companies, airports and public officials. The school serves as headquarters for the Southeast SATSLab Consortium, which is chaired by the school's president, George Ebbs, and involves a close-knit group of Florida aviation executives, academics, consultants and entrepreneurs.
Jim Bodine, 69, a retired former vice president of Lockheed Martin in Orlando and the consortium's vice chair, explains the benefits of a SATS system in terms of his own executive life. In the early 1990s, he often had to visit one of Lockheed Martin's plants in Troy, Ala., and was frustrated at having to fly first to Atlanta and change planes. Later, as chairman of Florida Aviation and Aerospace Alliance, he frequently drove from his home in Longwood, near Orlando, to Tallahassee because flying was so inconvenient.
With a SATS-like system, he says, he could board an air taxi jet at an airport in Apopka and fly directly to Tallahassee for about what he'd pay for a coach airline seat.
Similarly, a venture capitalist living in Boca Raton could fly easily and affordably to a meeting with biotech entrepreneurs in Gainesville. A family of four living in suburban Miami might fly to Orlando to visit Disney World. A salesman living in Daytona Beach could fly directly to Augusta, Ga., for a sales call.
Issues
Stimulating the prospects for SATS, Bodine says, is growing traffic on interstate arteries and congestion in the airline industry's hub-and-spoke routing system -- now so finely interconnected that thunderstorms in the Midwest can cause delays in Miami. "The hub-and-spoke system is about to choke to death," Bodine says.
Some see SATS as pie in the sky rather than a potential revolution in air travel. The Transportation Research Board, a research panel, harrumphs that NASA is wasting its time and money on SATS. In a report in Florida Today, Herbert Richardson, a Texas A&M University professor who's a member of the research board, says the agency "should really go back and look at what the vision of the program is and come up with something that is a little more credible."
Holmes, SATS' program director, disagrees with the panel's conclusion that NASA has no role in providing support for the creation of a new transportation system. "We need to be thinking in this country about the future of our transportation system," he says. "Every message that we get from stakeholders, whether it's Congress, industry, states or local communities, is, 'If you guys can succeed at this, we need it.' "
Clearly, SATS will have to navigate a host of regulatory issues, along with the post-Sept. 11 security issues posed by the prospect of numerous small jets zooming about the country's airspace. There's also likely to be opposition from residents of neighborhoods near what are now sleepy civil airstrips.
But SATS officials say their vision has real potential, particularly for Florida, which has 129 general aviation and commercial airports and perhaps several hundred more small private airfields. There are 14 airports between Miami and West Palm Beach alone, and 97% of the state's population lives within 30 minutes of an airport.
In addition, Bodine says important pieces of the technological and business infrastructure for a safe, economically viable SATS system in Florida already exist or are in the works. "We don't need new inventions," Bodine says. "We have the technology. We have to prove it's safe and that we can produce the hardware at low cost."
BRACKETT'S BOX
Essential to a small aircraft transportation system is an air traffic control system that allows planes to travel safely in all sorts of weather and flying conditions. The system has to be technologically advanced yet affordable for small airports, which typically can't afford the sophisticated navigational and communications systems that big airports use.
Several years ago, Harris Corp. in Melbourne handed one of its senior principal engineers, Harold Brackett, the assignment of developing such a system. Brackett, a veteran of several of the country's largest aviation companies, and his team of engineers have developed a prototype -- a kind of ground control in a box called Airport Communications Technology Trailer, or ACTT -- by tying together the internet, a satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) and technology that Harris had developed under a previous program.
Testing ACTT
Brackett's prototype, which fits in a 20-foot, air-conditioned trailer, can gather weather, navigational and other flight data and then relay it to a pilot. A radar unit and weather monitors are mounted on top of the trailer; inside, a bank of computers tracks airplane positions, weather and control communications. Three computer terminals sit along one wall. A large screen, used to display air traffic in the vicinity of the airport, hangs from the ceiling.
As part of the initial SATS Southeast Lab tests, Harris will set up its equipment at several of Florida's airports, including those in Gainesville, Tallahassee, Melbourne and Sebring. Over the next four years, Brackett and his crew will continue to modify and improve the system. A fleet of specially equipped light planes will be used to test the system under all sorts of weather and traffic conditions. "It'll work," Brackett says.
There's no price tag on the system yet. Part of the exercise is to determine how much it will cost. But the goal is to keep it under $500,000, which would be significantly lower than the roughly $12 million it costs now to build a control tower and install radar and communications.
THE NEW JETS
If the proponents of SATS are correct, one of the first commercial spinoffs of the SATS concept will be air taxi operations ferrying passengers between regional airports for about the same cost as a current coach airline ticket.
The success of such ventures will hinge in part on the development of low-cost, efficient small jets like one planned by a fledgling manufacturer in West Palm Beach. Safire Aircraft Co. was founded three years ago by Michael Margaritoff, a pilot and aviation enthusiast whose family is the largest wine distributor in Europe. Safire is building a twin-engine, six-seat jet, the Safire S-26, that will sell for $919,000, the company says -- considerably less than the $4-million price tag for entry-level business jets like the Citation CJ1.
A convergence of technological developments is making lower-priced jets possible, including smaller, more powerful and dependable turbofan jet engines. Lightweight materials and new manufacturing techniques are cutting down on weight and costs. Meanwhile, advances in avionics, in large part because of GPS technology, are making it easier to fly and are reducing the cost of outfitting a cockpit. "It used to cost $1 million for a cockpit suite," says David Humphries, Safire's executive vice president. "We hope to deliver the whole plane for $1 million."
Powered by two turbofan engines capable of producing 1,000 pounds of thrust each, the Safire S-26 will be fast enough to maneuver above and around nasty weather but small enough to be relatively fuel efficient. A single pilot will be able to fly the jet. The cabin has four club seats with a small lavatory in the back. Passengers enter the sleek jet through a door between the passenger seats.
Competition
Safire aims to test-fly the S-26 late next year. It'll then take about one year to get Federal Aviation Administration certification. The company already has over 700 orders and expects to deliver the first plane in late 2004. "We hope to be building about 1,000 jets a year," Humphries says.
To succeed, however, Safire will need both to conquer technological hurdles and to raise more money. It also faces competition from Eclipse Aviation Corp., an Albuquerque, N.M., company that already has rolled out its own small, lower-priced jet, the twin-engine Eclipse 500.
Founded by former Microsoft Corp. executive Vern Raburn, Eclipse says it can deliver its six-seat jet for about $850,000. It will be capable of flying almost 450 mph at altitudes of up to 41,000 feet yet remain light and maneuverable enough to land and take off from virtually every small airport in the nation. And the cost of operating it will be about 40% of the operating cost of today's cheapest business jet, the company says.
Safire S-26Cost: $919,000Engine Thrust: 1,000 poundsTakeoff: 2,500 feetLanding: 2,500 feetCruise Speed: 340 knotsMaximum altitude: 37,000 feetMaximum range: 1,400 miles
Eclipse 500Cost: $850,000Engine Thrust: 770 poundsTakeoff: 2,060 feetLanding: 2,050 feetCruise Speed: 355 knotsMaximum altitude: 41,000 feetMaximum range: 1,600 miles
Cessna Citation CJ1Cost: $4 millionEngine Thrust: 1,900 poundsTakeoff: 3,280 feetLanding: 2,760 feetCruise Speed: 380 knotsMaximum altitude: 41,000 feetMaximum range: 1,247 miles
THE ENGINE
In Palm Beach Gardens, just north of Safire's offices, engineers at Agilis Engines also are busy shaping the future of aviation. The 10-year-old company, which specializes in making turbine engines for industrial use, has designed a small turbofan engine to power six-seat jets like the one Safire is building.
New innovative designs have allowed engineers to build engines that measure just 4 1/2 feet in length and about 1 1/2 feet in diameter, with 1,000 pounds of thrust -- enough power to fly a six-seat, 5,400- to 6,000-pound aircraft.
Agilis, founded by former Pratt & Whitney executive Frank O'Neill, plans to test its new engine later this year, says company spokesman Dean Rotchin. The company is perhaps two years away from delivering its first jet engine.
Safire has already ordered 500 Agilis TF 1000 jet engines. Over the past two years, at least 15 other aircraft companies have requested information, Rotchin says, declining to reveal names because of confidentiality agreements.
If Agilis can successfully produce its small engine, it will likely compete with a similar turbofan engine produced by Williams International. The EJ-22 engine, made exclusively for the Eclipse jet, weighs 85 pounds and can produce 770 pounds of thrust. The Eclipse has generated a lot of publicity in the trade and general media. "Two years ago there was no activity for these small jets," says Agilis' Rotchin. Eclipse founder Vern Raburn "is spending millions on PR. Now there's a market out there. We just have to make sure there really is a real market for our engine," Rotchin says.
Powering the Safire
Safire has ordered 500 of the Agilis TF 1000 turbofan engines, touted for their affordability, fuel efficiency and light weight -- just 285 pounds.
THE AIRPORT
Mike Willingham, executive director of Sebring Airport Authority, which operates a 3,000-acre regional airport next to the famous Sebring racetrack, sounds a little lonesome. "We're isolated by land and air," he says. "We're unserved."
But Willingham sees bluer skies on the horizon. He believes well-positioned airports can help facilitate growth for rural towns like Sebring, located southeast of Tampa midway between Florida's two coasts -- and the community has invested accordingly.
Over the past seven years, Sebring has spent $60 million rehabilitating and expanding its World War II-era airport and runway. The money has come from a variety of sources, including the airport authority, the city, Highlands County and federal and state grants. Among the improvements is a new airport terminal built in the hopes of attracting scheduled air service. In the works now is the extension of the existing runway, construction of a new 8,500-foot runway and development of a 130-acre commerce park.
Willingham also made sure his airport was one of the first in Florida to sign up as a test site for SATS experiments.
Willingham is a realist. "The real benefits won't be immediate," he says. "It's down the road, five to 10 years out at least." But, he adds, "At some point it's about economic development. The whole idea is to provide better access to rural, underutilized airports like Sebring's. There's a lot of capacity left in the system."
AIR TAXI SYSTEM
Two years ago, Ed Iacobucci dropped out of sight after resigning as chairman and chief technology officer of Citrix Systems, a computer software company he had co-founded. Iacobucci still won't talk either about what happened at Citrix or his future plans, but his next business foray appears to have something to do with the emerging concept of a small-aircraft transportation system.
Iacobucci and his wife, Nancy, who already owns a company that charters business jets, and several other associates have formed Jetson Systems Corp. The group is exploring the formation of an air taxi service serving small regional airports, perhaps eventually using the small, SATS-generation jets now under development, according to aviation industry executives who have spoken with the company.
Delray Beach-based Jetson also is said to be working on an internet-based flight-planning and scheduling system for an on-demand air taxi service. A spokesman says the company probably won't go public with its strategy until early next year.
At NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, SATS program Director Bruce J. Holmes says he's seen a significant change in the type of businesspeople now flocking to the aviation ventures, as exemplified by creative entrepreneurs like Iacobucci. The new breed doesn't necessarily have an aviation background. But they're smart, big-picture businesspeople who know how to raise capital, use technology and deliver a service at an appealing yet profitable price point. "I've been in this industry for 30 years," Holmes says. "This new crop of entrepreneurs is a significant change. Ed is proxy for the trend I see emerging."
Entering the fray
Others are eyeing a possible air taxi market as well. Launched last year, Nimbus Group, based in Fort Lauderdale, is headed by Ilia Lekach, CEO of perfume companies Parlux and Perfumania. After announcing plans in September to buy 1,000 Eclipse jets for a nationwide air taxi service, Nimbus shares hit a 52-week high of $2.20. Prior to unveiling the air taxi business, the company was known as Take to Auction, an internet auction site. This summer, when Nimbus couldn't come up with a $5.86-million deposit, the deal for the Eclipse jets collapsed. The company's stock crashed too. It now trades for pennies. Lekach says he hasn't given up. "We'll still be a jet taxi service," he says. "I believe this concept will become a reality."
At least one company already has put together an on-demand air taxi service, albeit with twin-engine propeller planes. SkyTaxi, based in Salem, Ore., serves more than 300 communities in the Northwest at fares competitive with coach airline tickets in many cases. The company was founded by Ray Morrow, an entrepreneur whose manufacturing ventures have included everything from blimps to snowboards.
THE HURDLES
As one of the driving forces behind the push to create an on-demand air taxi transportation system, Bruce J. Holmes says he'll know when the concept is a success. It'll be that day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when a family of four can fly -- via jet taxi -- from one small airport to another for the same cost as a commercial airline coach fare. "This is an old idea," Holmes says. "Now we can do something about it."
But while the creation of a SATS-inspired air transportation system will depend largely on the right technologies, there are plenty of other hurdles as well:
Much of the technology, including low-cost smaller, powerful jets and computer guidance systems, is unproven.
Unless travel on small jets into and out of regional airports is competitively priced with existing modes of transportation, SATS isn't going to fly.
Building the infrastructure will be costly. Many small airports, already starved for capital, will have to spend money to upgrade their facilities in the hopes that the investment would lead to more landing fees.
Many of the companies developing small jets and on-demand air taxi business plans are thinly capitalized startup operations. The aviation industry is replete with what's known as vaporware -- bold claims that never materialize.
There are a raft of safety issues to be sorted out. Federal Aviation Administration approval of the new jets and new transportation system could take years. In the post-Sept. 11 environment, there's also the issue of security. Hundreds of small jets buzzing around Florida, for example, could pose unimaginable security concerns.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Research Board, in a recent report, challenges the basic SATS assumption that there are large numbers of people and businesses that want to fly into and out of small airports, especially those in rural communities.
SATS proponents are undeterred. Most agree the process of creating a new air transportation option will see its share of false starts and failures, but scheduled and on-demand taxi service between small airports will happen. "Twenty years down the road it will be in place," predicts Bill Johnson, executive director of the Florida Airports Council. "What it looks like, I have no idea."