The dream of personalised flight is still vivid in the minds of many inventors, some developing cycle-powered craft, others (26)_____ money into jetpacks (喷气飞行背包). However, the flying car has always remained the (27)_____ symbol of personal transport freedom.
Several companies around the world have produced (28)_____ that can drive on roads and fly. Airbus has a futuristic modular (组件式的) concept involving a passenger capsule that can be (29)_____ from the road-going chassis (底盘) and picked up by a helicopter-type machine.
But all these concepts are massively expensive, require safety certification standards for road and air, need (30)_____ controls, involve complex folding wings and propellers, and have to be flown from air-strips. So they are likely to remain rich people’s playthings rather than practical transport solutions for the masses.
“A car that takes off from some London street and lands in another (31)_____ street is unlikely to happen,” says Prof. Gray, a leading aeronautical engineer. “Sky taxis are much more likely.” But that won’t stop inventors from dreaming up new ways to fly and trying to persuade investors to back their sometimes (32)_____ schemes.
Civilian aviation is being disrupted, not by the age-old desires for speed, romanticism and (33)_____, but by the pressing need to respond to a changing climate. New electric engines coupled with artificial intelligence and (34)_____ systems will contribute to a more efficient, integrated transport system that is less polluting and less noisy. That may sound simple, but as Prof. Gray says, “When I travel somewhere I like this notion that when I finish my journey I feel better than when I started it. That’s completely at (35)_____ with how I feel today.” Now that would be progress.
