Allegory to the Sky Cave

Ok, so you can get in the air and go up. Can you go anywhere?
It’s hard to know if you don’t experience the blinding power of tons of air ripping you skyward. Like plato’s allegory of the cave. You are unaware of what reality is until you step out into the burning light.

This pilot, after almost 8 hours, flew across all of eastern Washington state to land in Idaho, some 275km later. This is just over half of what is possible each year in Brazil and Texas. I took this picture after crossing the grand Columbia River.

We are seeing automated systems drone race, manage automotive safety and land aircraft. I see a future of collaborative multi-species flocks working to complete sensing missions as a diverse team.

What happens when they also learn how to use the best strategies related to weather that skilled pilots take many years to develop to augment performance and enhance range, endurance, accuracy and safety?

We will have a new era in platform capability. Converting atmospheric risk, to atmospheric opportunity. This is the key factor in a safe, reliable aviation future.