The X1 aircraft is comparable in size to a small regional airliner and can achieve a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 25,000 pounds with the help of four wing-mounted electric motors. The battery-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power during the maiden flight.

  • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    you can’t cover the ground with rails. air travel does have uses trains cannot meet.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      @betanumerus@lemmy.ca

      @rimu@piefed.social I specified short distances. By the take you get to the airport an hour early the train has covered a fairly long distance. Nobody wants to live near an airport as airplanes are inherently noisy, but trains are quiet.

      • Scheisser@sh.itjust.works
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        23 hours ago

        Have you lived next to a track where trains travel frequently? The noise is mostly ok, however the vibrations are not. I would not live closer than 1 km or so from the track, otherwise you feel the house vibrate every time a train passes. Good luck if the trains pass each hour, especially during the nights.

        Airports are worse tho, I’ll give you that.

        • I have spent my entire childhood in a house at a mere 125m away from the train tracks, with trains passing 8 times per hour (excl. freight which also passes every now and then). You could faintly hear them if you were in the garden, but never in a bothersome way. I have not once felt anything vibrate from a passing train. Maybe this is different for poorly built houses? But it really shouldn’t be an issue.

        • bluGill@fedia.io
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          20 hours ago

          @Scheisser@sh.itjust.works

          @rimu@piefed.social @betanumerus@lemmy.ca

          That is very much a it depends. Freight trains are like that, as are passenger trains on steel bridges, or anything with a large diesel engine. However we know how to make tracks that are not like that. Concrete bridges dampen vibration well. Elective EMUs are also much quieter.