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.

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here