I'm not sure if all your comments are fair. For example, fly by wire is extremely reliable, and the large number of engines provides huge redundancy and arguably much more safety in certain constrained environments.
If a plane engine fails, you can glide, but you need a nearby road or field. If a helicopter engine fails, you can auto-rotate but have very little margin for error and need forward momentum. There are also more single point failure parts in both helicopters and fixed wing planes.
If you get a partial failure on a Lilium you probably have much more flexibility to do an emergency landing as you have the other engines for control and redundancy.
I'm sure it will take a while to work the kinks out, and sure there are tradeoffs, but I'm not sure this is a jack of all trades master of none situation. I could see the jet carving out its own niche.
And yes, it could be a huge flop, just sharing a counterpoint.
If a plane engine fails, you can glide, but you need a nearby road or field. If a helicopter engine fails, you can auto-rotate but have very little margin for error and need forward momentum. There are also more single point failure parts in both helicopters and fixed wing planes.
If you get a partial failure on a Lilium you probably have much more flexibility to do an emergency landing as you have the other engines for control and redundancy.
I'm sure it will take a while to work the kinks out, and sure there are tradeoffs, but I'm not sure this is a jack of all trades master of none situation. I could see the jet carving out its own niche.
And yes, it could be a huge flop, just sharing a counterpoint.