Startup Magpie Aviation is testing whether it would be possible to tow electric commercial passenger planes to extend their range. While the company is currently towing gliders, it says there’s no reason why it couldn’t eventually tow single aisle jetliners like a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320. So will plane towing work, or is the concept not quite there yet?
0:00 Could aerotowing change electric aircrafts?
0:52 Where Magpie wants to be
2:39 Where Magpie is now
3:13 How Magpie can reach their goal
I’m George Downs, a WSJ video journalist fascinated by how technology is changing how we get from A to B. If you’re interested in the future of mobility or how modern transportation—from EVs to eVTOLs, and beyond— can impact our lives, then don’t forget to subscribe.
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Do you think plane towing will latch on?
This might work if the towing aircraft were unmanned and optimized for the purpose. That way the airworthiness certification doesn’t have to bother with safety features or crash survivability. Also autopilot for docking and handing off the passenger aircraft autonomously would need to be refined. The logistics would certainly interesting for these tow drones being based out of airports and austere airstrips.
I think the idea way too complicated to implement commercially. Rather they should focus on selling this to the military. Aerotowing has a rich history dating back to D-Day 😂
I hate that when I see startups like this now I get Theranos or fake EV car vibes. I wish it wasn’t like that nowadays
Who else pictured a bunch of electric geese crossing the continent?
This seems like a problem that doesn't need solving
Nice idea but too many possible points of failure to be viable..
Those global warming things are making some idiots mad.
Who the hell is funding these dumb ideas? Give me a couple million to build my AI-enabled quantum cheese slicer while you’re at it. It probably has the same chance of earning a profit.
You need at least 100 silly ideas before you get to a good one.
Let's save costs by making everything more costly, let's create even bigger airports to store these aircraft maybe build more runwaus the list goes on
From an energy perspective, it'd be better to use batteries to help with the energy-intensive take-off. Either as an electric tow-assist take-off (dodgy), or winged external batteries (or hydrogen tanks?) jettisoned after take-off to glide back & be reused. But as planes typically don't yet even have just an electric front wheel for push-back & taxiing, any change might be a while…
What a stupid idea!
These types videos should be not be made by some dumb journalist without any type of knowhow in the field of aviation or EV tech. This is how we get theranos and nikola.
This is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard
Call Elon
If he laughs in milliseconds. U are done 😂😂
Without any energy? Are you sure? Plan just teleport?
I've been on a regular gas powered airplane in horrible weather. The plane shook violently. How would this setup deal with those kinds of conditions?
Dumbest idea ever!!! Sorry. Everyone tries to sh#t on fossil fuels but it's been by far the most economical and safest form of energy and fuel for over 100 yrs. How much cobalt mining are they going to have to do to be able to equal the energy output of fossil fuel. Cobalt mining is by far one of the most environmentally destructive things humans can do to the planet.
Video title in 2103: Tech that never TOOK off(Magpie's airplane towing concept).
Why not charge the plane through the tow cable?
World: there’s a pilot shortage..
Magpie: hear me out….we double to amount of planes and pilots. 😎
Nah
So higher cost planes, higher cost energy, reduced efficiency (drag, takeoffs and landings), more maintenance, more pilots, and higher risk of accidents (again, taking off and landing). I can see why they threw this idea away repeatedly before deciding they had to use it because of the battery tenet of their ESG religion.
We're going to solve the battery power problem of planes with a battery powered plane. Good luck selling that air to a fish
This is so stupid on so many levels.
would be smart to get around energydensity problem of batteries but dumb af from an enegry usage standpoint bscly having to build up the potential enegry multiple times for a single flight would cost crazy amounts of energy