ENGINEERING: China has a two-ton electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft; what does the USA have?

Sunday, August 10, 2025

https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/china-evtol-offshore-rig-delivery

World’s first two-ton electric cargo aircraft cuts 10-hour trip to under 1 hour

  • This Chinese heavy-lift drone is a game changer for offshore missions.

Updated: Aug 04, 2025 08:42 AM EST

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China has completed what it calls the world’s first offshore oil-platform cargo mission by a two-ton electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

The unmanned V2000CG CarryAll took off from the coastal city of Shenzhen on Sunday, carried fresh fruit and emergency medical supplies across open water for 58 minutes, and touched down 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) away on a China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) platform.

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From ten-hour boat runs to one-hour drone hops

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Taken together, the advances point to a logistics sector on the verge of rapid change. Long-haul trucking and maritime shuttles remain indispensable for bulk freight, but heavy-lift eVTOLs offer a new middle ground. They are faster than ships, cheaper and cleaner than helicopters, and can reach small landing pads or parking-lot “vertiports” that fixed-wing aircraft cannot.

The Shenzhen-to-rig mission is expected to become regular sorties carrying maintenance parts, food, and medical kits. At the same time, the sale of the first fully certified V2000CG CarryAll signals the beginning of commercial deployment for large-scale eVTOL operations in real-world logistics environments.

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I’ve often thought that the Gooferment, private industry, or some tech mogul could spark innovation here in the USA by offering something like “Nobel Prizes” for a SPIRO (Specific, Performance or results, Involvement or support, Realistic, Observable) achievement.

I’m not sure that the dollar amount would be as motivating as the prestige of winning it.

Someone should give DJT4547 a list of what would be EPIC HEROIC accomplishments.  Like the various awards that are given out, for BEST of something.

“Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.”” — RFK

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” — John F. Kennedy inaugural address

Use the “bully pulpit” to inspire action.

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LIBERTARIAN: Why is the state of highway bridges a Federal Gooferment problem?

Friday, April 16, 2021

https://www.cato.org/blog/bidens-crumbling-bridges

APRIL 9, 2021 2:51PM
Biden’s Crumbling Bridges
By Chris Edwards

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says America’s roads and bridges are “crumbling.” The administration’s infrastructure plan says, “After decades of disinvestment, our roads, bridges, and water systems are crumbling,” and it notes that 45,000 bridges are in “poor condition.”

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Why is the state of highway bridges a Federal Gooferment problem?

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GOVERNACIDE: Politicians ribbon-cutting opportunities cost people’s lives and Taxpayers’ wealth

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

https://www.cato.org/blog/questions-ask-about-amtrak-501

DECEMBER 20, 2017 9:21AM
Questions to Ask About Amtrak 501
By RANDAL O’TOOLE

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The wreck of the 501–the Amtrak train that crashed near Seattle on Monday–is raising lots of questions about Amtrak operations, but they aren’t always the right ones. Here are some questions that should be asked and some of my preliminary answers. Answers from Amtrak (the operator), FRA (the funder), Sound Transit (the track owner), or WSDOT (the train owner) may differ.

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2. Around 800 people die in railroad accidents a year. PTC would prevent only about 1 percent of these fatalities; far more would be saved by spending the same amount of money on better grade crossings and fencing of rail rights of way. Why do we put so much emphasis on an expensive technology that will do so little?

Answer: Accidents that PTC could have prevented tend to be more spectacular than people getting killed when a train hits their car at a grade crossing. This suggests that, when politicians decide where private businesses spend their money, it’ll get spent on grandiose programs rather than things that could really make a difference.

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5. Why do so many reporters call this a high-speed train? The top speed between Portland and Seattle is 79 mph, the same as it has always been and the same as most other Amtrak routes. In technical terms, this was a conventional, low-speed train.

Answer: Though this was a low-speed train, it was funded by Obama’s high-speed rail fund. By repeatedly using the term “high-speed trains,” reporters are keeping that idea in the public consciousness, perhaps in the hopes that Trump’s infrastructure plan will include money for more such trains. (This could backfire, however, by making people think that high-speed trains are more dangerous. They aren’t–but they are a lot more expensive.)

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Question: So are all trains obsolete?

Answer: No, only passenger trains are obsolete. Freight trains are extremely productive, and America has the finest, most advanced rail system in the world. That’s because it is mostly private and operates to produce profits, not to give politicians ribbon-cutting opportunities.

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So the answer is that politicians and bureaucrats, their egos, cause the waste of Taxpayers’ wealth on their egos.

Argh!

Happy New Year; new year same as the old year.

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