» Flight times over 100 Nautical Miles (185 Kilometres)

» Speed examples at 250kts actual ground speed: London

London – Leeds: distance 148nm TC= 36 minutes.

London – Edinburgh: 289nm TC = 70 minutes; rail = 4hrs 20 min; car = 7 hrs 15 min.

London – Reading: 32 nm TC= 8 minutes direct; car 42 min (averaging 88km/hr).

London to Manchester: 143 nm TC=34minutes; rail = 2hrs 40 min; car = 3hrs 30 min.

» Paris Railway comparisons

Paris – London distance 185nm TC= 45 minutes direct:  Eurostar 2 hrs 30 min.     

Paris – Geneva 218nm TC= 53 minutes direct, 7 stops= 1 hr 28 min: TGV= 3 hrs 25 min.

Paris - Lyon 211nm TC = 51 minutes direct, 5 stops= 1 hr 16 min: TGV = 2 hours.

Governments are traditionally reluctant to invest in high speed transport, despite substantial economic benefits, due to the high cost of establishing services.

Railways redefined life for people by opening up new places, new frontiers by making it easy to travel. The TC Breecuda takes this to a new level, designed to augment rail networks that are under increasing pressure from overcrowding. By reducing Inter-city service needs, there is more room on railway lines and timetables for local commuter services and freight trains. Only connecting terminals need be built, aircraft bought and airways planning conducted to start services. Aircraft speed and efficiency reduces journey time and cost. Top speed of 400 knots is attainable in a very short time – controlled to be comfortable by computer. The TC will require little maintenance in comparison to trains and railway systems.

Breecuda offers high levels of safety and systems redundancy: it is able to cope with multiple engine failure. Both TC aircraft will use improved versions of existing, proven engines and will be extremely quiet due to design features shielding engine noise in both level flight and VTOL modes: active noise reduction is also envisaged. TC will operate at low levels away from commercial jet routes, between 500 and 5000 feet. Power plants are optimized for this cruising altitude, providing better economy, efficiency and output.

Breecuda is the worlds cheapest high speed transport system available, to build, integrate and operate. It is easy to build into cities or any system; it is reliable with simple maintenance and very cost effective. Commuter aircraft allows low ticket prices giving everybody access to high-speed transport – the fastest transit times of any short-medium range transport under 250nm.  The aircraft have very low pollution and are designed to be extremely safe, with multiple redundancies. The TC does not require complex systems or planning and can operate to factories or mines in remote areas, taking people from populated areas to the site in less time than it would take to commute across a city.

Industry need for skilled and unskilled workers is growing, in and away from population centers, with more commuting taking place. Present systems, road and rail are stretched to breaking point. The Breecuda is available in either jet fuel or exceptionally clean burning hydrogen powered versions reducing smog. Employment problems in outer suburbs are resolved by introducing high-speed transport to enable access to the jobs in the CBD, and creating incentive for industry to build in outer locations away from cities.

Workers are vital for industry. Factories have been driven away from population centers and transport networks. The result is less access to cheap workers, particularly younger people and those with little income; traditional factory employees generally without cars – even in wealthy countries.  As a result companies must use higher wages to attract earners with their own transport affecting profit margins as well as productivity if employees remain difficult to attract.

The time it takes to travel directly effects the productivity of the workers: a person commuting for an hour has become fatigued and less attentive. Such a transport system eases population pressure in urban areas by taking away the need to live close to the CBD to find work. Workers can get up later in the morning and arrive home earlier at night. The ability to make later departures also reduces noise early in the mornings when conventional transport systems must depart. Each passenger will have more time with their families or friends, further education or work other interests with this transport system in place. Fresher workers mean better quality and production at faster rates, reducing costs to business.

» Design

TC Breecuda is a new category of aircraft. Its VTOL capability is designed to replace or augment Inter-city passenger trains to give commuters access to high speed transport at low cost – both in terms of operational expense and set-up costs. 

This design originated from SDD264 Networking, a study finding commercial aircraft can travel up to ten times faster than trains between points - at equal ticket prices to conventional, subsidised rail fares - while returning profit to operators. Airports are, on average fifteen minutes drive or ride from the city CBD. By adding the dimension of vertical ascent and descent to this concept, runways are not required, enabling the type to land close to the CBD.

The configuration was derived from many types historically and from BAT types; principles expanded and optimised for the design and its market. Breecuda performance was proven 35 years ago by a similar aircraft with a different configuration. Capable of lifting 30 troops, the Dornier Do 31 had ample thrust if an engine failed, with VTOL ability proven by extensive, incident free and successful flight testing. Dornier had a 100 seat passenger concept cancelled by a lack of funding: the amount of engines likely rendering it uneconomical to general operations. A more conventional looking VTOL commuter was proposed in the mid 1970’s by Hawker Sidney and again not built due to a lack of funding. Engine performance increases since this time, 35 years ago, enable TC to use fewer engines more economically.

The aircraft has easy commuter access in and out of the aircraft via wide aisles and huge entry doors, conventional stewards would simply decrease safety. Inside, seats will be fixed and sprung to provide a small amount of relief from turbulence. During cruise flight it will fly as a conventional aircraft, an advantage in safety, with a Variometer detecting and compensating for turbulence. Due to its ability to land anywhere, conventional fuel requirements will be unnecessary. Refueling will take place at the end of each trip or as required over longer flights. Fuel constitutes a good proportion of payload weight: it is more efficient and safer to have a reduced range. Bladder tanks can be carried and used for ferry flight.

Flight will use the latest technology to be able to fly blind, using multiple technologies to ensure guidance safety and redundancy. The flight crew aboard will be monitoring systems and fuel consumption only, taking over only if parameters are exceeded. Movements in flight and on board will be monitored by a centralized system for separation requirements similar to the centralized traffic system employed by railways. Pilotless options will become available with later versions.

Breecuda will feature an active pressurisation system. The system will operate from take off, either increasing or decreasing on-board air pressure to the destination station pressure level. This means no time is lost or discomfort felt by air pressure changes onboard Breecuda. Pressure measuring equipment will be installed at each station and registered onboard Breecuda commuter aircraft via a data link, with the aircrafts pressurisation system compensating as closely as possible. From take-off adjustments will be gradually made to mimic pressure levels at the destination station. The arriving Breecuda will vent remaining air pressure slowly as the aircraft touches down.

» TC Breecuda offers

1. High speed transport that is cheap to configure and build into cities.

2. High speed transport that is safe, quiet, clean and cheap for consumers.

3. Increased business and industrial capacities and efficiencies due to increased worker availability.

4. increased productivity and health of workers due to lower commuting times.

The primary users will be towns and cities where population growth has outstripped the areas required infrastructure. What cities are not interested in high speed transport? These centres require many people to help them operate efficiently yet the bulk of workers cannot afford to live in the vicinity of the CBD. Breecuda brings these workers into town without clogging freeways or already busy railway lines.