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Comment by ionwake | Hacker News Reader

It is a shame VTOL is not incorporated, I can't help thinking it would be pretty easy to add what with available cheap multirotor stabilisation tech... the more I think about it, the more possible it is, and safer.

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i always loved the attention to detail on display in the vertical take off in the film

a little foot pedal can be raised and with a swift impression the aircraft gets a downward burst that sends it about 2 or 3 meters straight up and then the engine propels it forward: https://youtu.be/tdAtYXzcZWE?t=27

there is another launch where they just fall out of a larger already moving flying machine.. unable to find a clip online but it's about at an hour and 28 minutes into the film

another awesome launch is when back home in the valley of the wind the glider is hooked up to a slingshot that throws the glider without using any fuel up into the air where the pilot then activates the engine.. unable to find a clip online but it's about at 22 minutes into the film

and another where the pilot runs the glider off a cliff and then flips up on top before launching to speed.. unable to find a clip online but it's about at 15 minutes into the film

as for landing, i'd hardly say vertical, mostly just a short runway

i love this style of landing shown early on, where the pilot flips under the glider and glides low enough to run off the glider: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZ5JalHjhs

this is a remarkably creative, brilliant and beautiful film

a rare post apocalyptic vision, both socially and environmentally, that retains beauty and hope

i highly recommend it to everyone

The bit where they get the detail wrong is: the VTOL generates a puff of air about the diameter of the wings, once. What it would actually need to generate is a huge blast on the order of a helicopter lifting off, continuously at least for the first few seconds. A single blast would leave it plummeting and it would need to pull some harsh gees to get up past stalling speed before it made a splat on the ground. Looking at the animation, maybe it was doing exactly that - but how did her arms not snap off?

Possible methodology:

- Explosive single VTOL blast.

- Plummeting with the jet throttled to max.

- Wing-in-ground effect lowers effective stall speed so acceleration can proceed skimming inches over the ground.

- Up to speed and lifting away from the ground to full flight.

It sounds crudely plausible, but terrifying and not something to do without mad skills.

miyazaki often subverts physics for aethetics

if you are responding to my mention of attention to detail

i was merely referring to the little foot pedal that pops up for the vert take off

unnecessary for the universe it inhabits and extra work for the animators, but a fun detail for viewers

ah no but don't you both see? A key component of the craft is that it is a glider, in most if not all scenes there is the clear presence of extremely strong wind, which would keep it held in the air - and not just for a few seconds! Look at the landing clip for example, where she hangs off it and the clear indication of strong wind. All that was required was the sudden VTOL blast to get the wing into the air current so it could generate lift.

I hope we can all settle on this explanation and agree they are visionaries. ;)

I really enjoyed your comment as I also took an interest in these features, great film.

The difficulty with VTOL isn't just stabilization, it's weight and thrust. The multirotor drones that have become popular in the last few years are only feasible because they use small electric motors and have very high thrust-to-weight ratios. (see e.g. the square-cube law)

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