Cattle Car Airlines

Cattle Car Airlines

Hank Oswald

Cattle Car Airlines represents a new paradigm for transporting passengers in aircraft and to and from aircraft, i.e. ground transportation.

The major innovation is a “containerization” of the passenger (the Passenger Personal Pod, PPP) and appropriate hardware to load, unload, and move the passenger from ground transport to and into the aircraft and finally out of the aircraft at the destination airport, into ground transport and to the passenger’s final destination.

Cattle Car Airlines is an integrated system of Vehicles, Busses, Terminals, Aircraft and inter-vehicle machinery and control facilities that handle Passenger Personal Pods. The passenger is furnished a Passenger Pod a day in advance of his trip. The Pod has facilities to store luggage, under the ‘seat’, space for the passenger to sit and features such as audio/video info/entertainment, oxygen, life support etc. The passenger loads his Pod as he would pack his luggage. All passenger belongings, luggage and ‘carry-on’, must fit into the Pod. If the luggage won’t fit, it cannot be taken.

The Pod is a semi-rigid device that takes the place of airline seats, overhead bins and storage closets. It is light in weight and moved via overhead and underfoot rails. The motors that move the Pod are built-in to the Pod and electric power and control signals are derived from the tracks.

At the beginning of the trip, the PPP, now loaded with passenger and luggage is picked up and loaded onto a bus. The bus collects other passengers making similar trips. The Pods are moved into the bus much the same as on the aircraft, on rails, analogous to sides of beef being loaded onto a truck. The passenger needs no effort and sits/rides comfortably supported by his Pod. If inclement weather occurs the pod may be enclosed with a transparent plastic shroud. At the airport, the bus is connected to the terminal overhead transport system. The Pods are now automatically off loaded and transported under computer control to a security check point (many check points can process pods in parallel) where the passenger and all his belongings are security checked. The pod is then transported to the aircraft loading area appropriate for each passenger. They literally ‘hang’ out at the aircraft waiting area until departure time. Along the way each Pod is subjected to security measures. At flight time the collected Pods are transported onto the aircraft via rails that connect to on-board rails and positioned inside the plane for the flight. The loading and unloading of Pods is very fast. The Pods move on their overhead guidance/transport mechanism at 20 mph. Thus load/unload of a 200 passenger aircraft would require some 5 minutes. The Pods occupy less space than normal seats, so passengers can be more densely packed into the plane. Taken together the higher passenger density and speed of load/unload, the capacity of any given aircraft is increased by a factor of at least 2 to 5. The airline can cut rates in half or more and dramatically increase profits.

THE PERSONAL PASSENGER POD

The Personal Passenger Pod is a very simple idea but its execution is necessarily somewhat complex. The PPP must be light in weight, strong and stable. It must be comfortable for the occupant. It must be easily transportable on its upper and lower tracks. It must contain provision for personal safety and comfort.

A primary component of the PPP is the visual effect capability. This device called, “Eye-Track”, consists of a visor that is 6.2 by 2 by 2.2 inches. It covers the passenger’s eyes. For each eye there is small liquid crystal display screen and optics. The viewer sees what appears to be a 62 inch diagonal screen 6.5 feet in front of him. This visual effect can be used not only for entertainment of all sorts but also for information purposes. The safety demonstration by the flight attendant is a prime example of information to be presented. Also in case of emergency specific, location sensitive, instructions may be given. Opportunities exist for games and entertainment programs, communications, internet access. These opportunities will enhance the Cattle Car Airline experience to the point that passengers will readily accept the higher passenger density and its concomitant restrictions.


EXTENSIONS

Cattle Car Bus Lines
Cattle Car Fast Food Restaurants
Cattle Car Emergency Services