Never. Sorry.
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When we are REALLY too crowed to go anywhere.... on land.....
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I believe the answer to your question is one of safety and speculation.

Confidence in the airline and private flying industry right now is very low. I think it will probably increase when 2 things start to happen.


1- Safety features like full plain parachutes become standard on all private aircraft.

2- Enough time passes by so that people feel flying will be a blessing and not a chore.

Flying lessons for young adults also needs to increase.
My kid cousin is getting a private flying license and i'm very proud.
However I'm sure my cousins parents has their reservations.


Kind Regards & Happy Holidays.
~x
Source(s):
Grey matter between my ears.

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Nothing will. People driving vehicles that move on 2 dimensions already cause more fatalities worldwide than I don't know what. Can you imagine what it would be like if we allowed everybody to drive in 3 dimensions? Not to mention, the ever-rising cost of living makes buying a personal aircraft nigh impossible unless you happen to be the president of a Big Oil company or something along those lines. And speaking of oil, the world has enough trouble as it is with it's supply of oil - you think the economies of any country would be able to fuel such a method of transportation? (pun intended).

Let me sum it up: It'll not happen, at least not anytime soon. And by soon I mean never. Too expensive, too dangerous and ultimately pointless. Not to mention environmentally unfriendly.

Hope this answers your question.
Source(s):
Common sense.

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I agree that it'll never happen, but I'll throw a few things to that. It'll never happen MASSIVELY. If you're Shuttleworth or some other rich guy, probably you will, to space, if you feel like it, but there are not enough resources for all of us flying around. In fact, I think we are short of resources since a few decades ago (and I'll add a source tomorrow, when I'm not falling asleep).
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In my own opinion, there are a few things holding us back from personal flying transports.

One, the energy required to power flying machines is far greater than other transport options. Until we can produce energy in a cheap and hopefully clean manner with enough yield to provide lift, this is far off.

Secondly, our current methods of flying are far too difficult for the average person. Personal flight craft would almost certainly have to be of a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) variety. Helicopters are ridiculously hard to fly, gyrocopters a bit more simple but still way out of the average consumer's control capability, and jet powered aircraft require much faster acceleration to maintain lift.

So, I would say personal flight is a pipe dream for quite some time. At least another half a century.
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It depends on the place and state government law and the price of the flights and fuel too.
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Scramjet technologies that allow us to make the spaceship our home. Then we can land or fly away as we wish. This will be starting next year.
Source(s):
http://tinyurl.com/4ggn4x

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50 years - first we have to overcome our dependence on oil by boosting the power of batteries. Making the system affordable then folks can have personal flying machines.

Myself, I'm waiting for Star trek type transporters.
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Never because of the price. It's just too expensive. You're wasting so much energy just fighting gravity.

It would be awesome though.

I'm willing to consider that it may be possible to have personal flying in the army, but never will it ever happen ever as a common mode of transportation.
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Hopefully never. Have you seen the way people drive out on the highways? The last thing we need is for that horror show to take place up in the sky.
Source(s):
personal experience

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We'll see high speed automated "on demand" transportation before we see personal "flying cars".

Though these guys seem to be onto something for localized air travel.
Source(s):
http://www.trekaero.com/

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"Personal Flying" is already a common mode of Transportation. According to Wikipedia there are over half a million active private pilots in the US.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_certification_in_the_United_States

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Hopefully never. I love airplanes and am pursuing a private pilot's license, but it's a very wasteful hobby (in terms of natural resources). Even if technology improved to the point that we had the airplane-equivalent of the Prius, public transportation would probably still be the best way to get everyone where they needed to go. Now, for improving public transportation ...
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The last time I checked, the flying car is already available
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