From the Archives: The flying bus concept
Back in 1965, the Los Angeles Department of Airports was considering building a monorail between downtown Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport.
But Clarence M. Belinn, founder and president of Los Angeles Airways, had a different idea. Why not use a “flying bus” instead? After passengers are loaded into a bus-like lounge, a helicopter swoops in, grabs the pod and flies off to the airport.
A story by Ray Herbert in the April 4, 1965, Los Angeles Times added:
… The sky lounge Los Angeles Airways has its eye on would be a commercial version of the Air Force’s flying crane built by Sikorsky Aircraft.
A gangling aircraft, rising more than two stories off the ground, the “crane” is built to settle down on a passenger lounge, snuggle it securely to its underside and lift off.
With passengers already aboard the lounge, the operation would take only a few seconds. The pod would be fixed rigidly, eliminating any possibility of sway.
Belinn visualizes an aerial transit system in which a waiting lounge, already loaded at Union Station, would be detached from the helicopter minutes later on an apron at International airport. ..”
A followup story by Herbert in the April 27, 1966, Los Angeles Times reported that federal backing was given for a $735,000 study into the Flying Bus concept. But noise concerns and other opposition grounded the project.
The monorail and flying bus ideas never got off the ground.
