The Malaysian flying car dilemma

LETTER | Flying cars may be here sooner than we thought, especially with the rapid advancement of autonomous flight control technology that is fully available as compared to decades ago. According to Bloomberg, there are more than 70 companies with projects under development. Already, a few companies are now in the midst of acquiring Type Certification from both FAA and EASA. One such company is Surefly Hybrid Eclectic Manned Multi-Copter, an American technology company, which announced that the FAA has accepted their application for Type Certification for their SureFly eVTOL aircraft. On the other side of the world, Ehang, a Chinese company from Guangzhou said to have developed the world's first manned flying car, has made over 1,000 manned flights and is set to provide urban air mobility in Dubai.

The one that is closer to heart and recently made news headlines is the Volocopter, which successfully completed its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay on Oct 22. Volocopter is a privately-owned German aircraft manufacturer, which has just completed its Series C funding round, the bulk of which came from Zhejiang Geely Holding Group which also owns 49.9 percent of Proton.

According to Morgan Stanley Research, flying cars could become common as early as 2040 and the industry is worth up to US$2.9 trillion. Entrepreneur development minister Mohd Redzuan Mohd Yusof may have the foresight in getting Malaysia onboard. However, our flying cars will not be flying anytime soon unless there is a serious and much overdue regulatory reform within our civil and general aviation sector. The two principal aviation regulators in Malaysia are the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom).

Already, our aerospace and airline industry is said to face have met unnecessary challenges dealing with both CAAM and Mavcom. Feedback from within the industry seems to suggest that they are not pleasant to deal with. It is often said the ecosystem in neighbouring countries such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Caas) is the exact opposite and is often praised by people from within the industry. If reform is not forthcoming, we can only expect more migration of our aerospace industry and startups to countries that provide a more conducive ecosystem. Perhaps this is the reason why Volocopter’s project to bring commercial air taxi services to Singapore can kick off speedily.

Of all the categories, general aviation (GA), unlike the commercial sector which has a robust financial capability, suffers the most. We are referring to mainly those with privately owned small propeller-driven aircraft, helicopters, other flying platforms and flying clubs. GA Malaysia is basically near "extinction-level". This is the only access our youths can have into flying, aside from getting hired by an airline, chances of which are limited to those lucky few.

CAAM’s blanket adoption of regulations from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), without clear understanding, is the main reason behind the "near extinction" of general aviation (GA) in Malaysia. Ironically, even with CAA, it continues to evolve to ensure practicality and relevancy, but this is not emulated by CAAM. As a result, flying costs have become astronomical while flying clubs are shutting down one by one due to the impossible cost following CAAM’s unreasonable regulatory requirements.

Why does it matter? Contrary to the false impression of many that flying is only for the rich and for the selected few or the upper-class society, in many countries, farmers use planes to conduct crop spraying and for private transportation - yes, flying can be much cheaper and faster than commuting by car.

Our youths are going to miss out on a lot. In countries like the US, flying is so affordable that many youths already have their private licenses by the time they turn 17. Why join mat rempit when you can fly? Imagine if these youths can one day contribute significantly to the Malaysian aerospace industry. One can think of the example of Burt Rutan, the man behind scaled composite and Virgin Galatic, who started flying in his youth.

To put it into perspective, this is what we are losing out on:

Number of GA aircraft in flying clubs:

1998-2006 More than 50

2006-2010 Less than 20

2010-2019 Less than 10

Cost obtaining Private Pilots License (PPL) on certified aircraft (average and min):

1990 - 1997 RM20k

1998 - 2010 RM25k

2010 – 2015 RM35k

2016 – 2019 RM65k

No of PPL produced via GA Club:

1990 - 1997 More than 300

1998 – 2006 Less than 150

2006 – 2010 More than 50

2010 – 2015 Less than 40

2016 – 2019 Less than 10

There is big potential of the GA industry in Malaysia. With our unique geography, we can be the go-to destination for cross-country flying within the Southeast Asian region. This is especially true in Sabah and Sarawak, where the Borneo island is the world third largest island with one-of-its-kind tropical jungles that many around the world are eager to visit. Many of our rural settlements can be easily accessed via GA aircraft and one can even land on the Rajang river with the use of an amphibious plane.

In 2017 it is recorded that in Sarawak alone foreign tourists spent more than RM8.6 billion. What better way to get close to nature than appreciating its beauty from the sky soaring like an eagle skimming the jungle top and rivers? This definitely will bring the tourist experience to the next level and at the same time spur Malaysians’ involvement in GA activities.

During the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) 2019, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir had expected to see lots of small GA aircraft, but this was not the case. "We had Lima. I wanted Lima to be a small show, small aircraft but now you see all those big jet fighters, we glorify them," he said. Perhaps Tun has envisioned Lima to be like that of the annual air show held in Oshkosh, the EAA Airventure Oshkosh where a total of nearly 5,000 privately owned GA aircraft were put on display. On the contrary, basically only two truly GA aircraft were on display during Lima19 vs 5,000 from Oshkosh 2019. This will be an impossible sight as long as there is no serious reform within CAAM, slowly leading to the death of GA in Malaysia.

GA aircraft are based on decades-old proven technology and furthermore already operating comfortably in existing controlled airspace. Even with that, it is having such a hard time to thrive in Malaysia, then what more with the flying car which technology has yet to be proven? As PM recently put it, “[…] there will be traffic jams up […] directing the traffic. It's a little bit of problem […] the car will fly one day. But not today […]” The flying car industry will needlessly face tremendous challenges in terms of operations within the existing tightly controlled airspace.

At the moment, typical multi-rotors flying car configuration is no way near the efficiency of a 100 percent electric green technology plane. The Pipistrel Alpha Electro, for example, can carry two passengers, takes just one hour to charge and can travel 160 km for just RM4 - RM6 (Less than US$1.50). The Flight Design F2e, on the other hand, can fly for 2-3 hours and can travel at the speed of 170km/hr – 210km/hr. In many ways, this is much more cost-effective than the current multi-rotors flying car and already there is flying school flying fully certified, 100 percent electrical powered plane.

Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohd Redzuan Mohd Yusof recently said it may take flying car only one hour to travel from KL to Penang. If he is referring to the multi-rotors type of flying car, it is almost impossible even if he would to travel in a straight line with a total distance of near 175km. On the contrary, the 100 percent electrically powered GA aircraft, the Pipistrel Alpha Electro will be able to achieve that with slightly more than an hour and it will only cost him a maximum RM6. The usual path from Subang airport to Penang along the coastal line via Port-Klang will take around 2 hours of flight time with a total distance of slightly more than 300km. More if one were to travel in an efficient manner at a reduced travelling speed.

The question remains: how soon can CAAM approve such an aircraft and at what cost? The minister does not need to worry about flying cars, that will come eventually and possibly even with other technology beyond what politicians can imagine so long as they set in place the right and healthy ecosystem. The aerospace industry is moving very fast: we need policies that are relevant and up to date, regulatory bodies that are inclusive and industry-friendly and, more importantly, we need to put the right people in the right place with passion and vision for the industry.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.