Having just consumed coffee and scones I had planned to sit in my dressing-gown and binge on episodes of Frasier this morning, but then news of this courtesy of the VFS suggests there might be better things to do with the Spring that is upon us here in the UK.
For Amazon have just invested in a 5.3% stake in Beta, whose 'Alia' eVTOL-come-CTOL has just completed successful trials in Norway. The thinking at Amazon goes something like this: the Alia is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft to which lift motors can be added whenever electric vertical operation gains traction years from now.
If this sounds at all familiar, let us remind ourself that we are pioneering a drone I'd like to see piloted one day that can be operated as a conventional watercraft, whilst also being adaptable as a surface-effect aircraft to skim the sea as when conditions permit: by adding, as do Beta, four more motors.
Which with apologies to Frasier, I ought to be getting on with?
In the days I had money, I walked into a hotel bar near Amalfi where the only guest was Woody Harrelson of 'Cheers'. Doing the same in Mallorca, Bob Geldof (whilst Lauren Bacall walked the gardens beyond). There've been a lot of hotel bars in my life, which you can read about in the second instalment of my bio, 'Hotel Barred'. See also the first, 'Nasty, Brutal and Short'.
