Why aren’t there airplane sized helicopters? Helicopters seem better in terms of no long runway needed, and the ease of moving in any direction.
In: Engineering
I’m assuming you’re talking about passenger seized planes. Jet fighters are much closer in size to helicopters than they are to passenger jets.
Helicopters are more maneuverable than airplanes, but even the fastest helicopters are much slower than the usual passenger jet would be. It would be too expensive and too slow for regular passenger travel.
Runways aren’t a huge deal because you only need to build them once and you can use them for years and years. While runways and roads aren’t exactly the same, people are very good at building long flat things. The ratio of runway cost to runway usage is pretty good.
Also, passenger planes don’t need to move any direction – they basically just go in a straight line to wherever they are going.
As for jet fighters, they are *way* faster than helicopters, and also very maneuverable in their own right. This gives them an advantage in combat that the most maneuverable helicopters wouldn’t have.
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