On the other, more important hand, at firt view, this looks feasible to me (taking into account who published it)
I do wonder about the "little noise" claim, though. That fan a few meters in front of you that compresses air so that you can float on it will not be noise-free. I also think those tubes could start resonating at times.
Finally: only about a thousand passengers per hour or, alternatively, going at close to the speed of sound, on guaranteed collision course, with 30s intervals?
«BBC Future (international version)
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For those in the same boat: the BBC article talks of a design where maglev trains, starting in city centers, accelerate to a few hundreds km/h and then get picked up by a huge flying wing that swoops on it like a bird of prey. Later, much farther away, that flying wing will put the trains back on a maglev track, without ever landing.
That truly is a toy for boys (as in "looks cool and dangerous") unlike the Hyperloop ("it may or may not be dangerous, but you can't see that, so who cares?")
On the other, more important hand, at firt view, this looks feasible to me (taking into account who published it)
I do wonder about the "little noise" claim, though. That fan a few meters in front of you that compresses air so that you can float on it will not be noise-free. I also think those tubes could start resonating at times.
Finally: only about a thousand passengers per hour or, alternatively, going at close to the speed of sound, on guaranteed collision course, with 30s intervals?