Probably the most noticeable vehicle in all of cyberpunk. And the least likely to ever actually be built. I know that this might annoy a number of players, and in fact the idea even to me is neat, but very impractical and unlikely. The spinners from Cybergeneration are much more believable.

Safety, not something that is always mentioned in Cyberpunk. Its a concept that most Corps seem unable to grasp, let alone follow. But just try and get the CEO of a major Corp to do anything remotely unsafe and they immediately start complaining. Sure its one thing to risk a bit of cash in a Corporate Venture, but risk they're own butts? Not bloody likely.

The typical aerodyne is built on a jet engine platform, from almost the same design blueprint as has been in use for better than 4 decades. It makes use of a bulk force approach to flying. 2 to 4 thrust units are used to direct force below the vehicle to allow it to fly. The AV has no lifting surfaces so it must rely totally on engine power. If the thrust is lost the AV flies much like a brick, as in not at all, or straight down. Jet engines are notoriously picky, they use a very select type of fuel, they tend to go to pieces if something sufficient is sucked through an intake. And these things are flying over major population centers, and engaging in combat maneuvers along the grubbier streets in the combat zone?

Now consider the spinner and helicopter. They carry much more fuel, and have a variety of built in safety features. A helicopter or spinner can auto rotate, the blades turn helping to slow the helicopter if the engine dies. Spinners even have guards around the blades to make the dangers of spinning rotors less threatening. Helicopters are proven technology, they have been operational since the 50's.

Pollution, another of the big ignored issues of the cyberpunk world. Those ecology friendly movements of the 90's sure haven't lasted long. The jet engine is designed to run at high speed and high altitudes, its loses efficiency at low speed and altitude. As a combustion engine loses efficiency it increases pollution. Just imagine the garbage coming out of an AV...unconsumed gas, a wide variety of carcinogenic combustion products, heat, force, noise? Try and imagine this thing, it weighs a few thousand pounds and has a thrust rating high enough to lift it, floating over your head. If you weren't cooked or deafened by the exhaust you'd be slammed to the ground by the thrust. And this thing is used to drop down and rescue injured patients from off city streets?

Again in comparison the spinner and the helicopter. Both are designed to function the same regardless of air speed or altitude, and where built specifically for low level flying. Advanced design and new tail construction can virtually eliminate the noise, and the down thrust is diffused over a wider area to reduce intensity.

Okay now we reach something that Cyberpunk's Corps can appreciate. The cost. In the setting described in the rules, AVgas is very rare and expensive, enough so that the U.S. Military builds high efficiency fighters that it can barely afford to fly. Then we have the AV's flying over Night City. Probably the most inefficient use of fuel known, even the Harrier Jumpjets from which the idea was taken preferred to use runways to take off, and had lifting surfaces to allow a much more efficient rear directed thrust pattern (something an AV can't do, it is stops thrusting down it falls, no lifting surfaces). VTOL take off burns fuel like nobody's business, and jets rarely have more than a few minutes air time anyway. Imagine a typical Trauma Team rescue, they fly out, fight a battle, drop for rescue and fly back. Probably takes 20 minutes or more, this means the AV probably at best has a 2 or 3 minute margin of error. Opps... air ambulance crashes midway back to hospital kills 20. Compare this to a helicopter which can fly almost as fast, is more agile, and can carry about 20 times the flight time.

The helicopter design allows for much greater fuel efficiency, it can carry more fuel thus allowing it to fly longer. The spinner is even better, the best designs make use of lifting surfaces to cut fuel costs during level flight, much like the Osprey designs.

What do I mean by control? An AV uses thrust units to fly, it has no lifting or control surfaces. As a result it requires the pilot to fly on the thrust. The slightest mistake could send the whole thing over the edge. A very expensive fly by wire system is the only way such a system could possibly work. Can you see why such a vehicle is unlikely?

Helicopters where designed for tricky flying and have decades of refinement. Control is provided by blade speed, and angle as well as tail rotor manipulation. Spinners go even further and often have lifting and control surfaces.

And that's it, the only reason for the AV. They look cool. Unfortunately I like a bit of realism. Sure their are aspects of the Cyberpunk game that are far fetched, but I can see the trends that lead to them, I can see the basic technologies present today that will lead there, maybe not in 21 years but eventually. In fact I tend to set my games in 2097, just to avoid that fact.

But so to do helicopters and spinners. Consider the designs of current combat helicopters, some of the most impressive looking aircraft are helicopters, and the fire power they can carry is staggering, why settle for 2 measly chainguns? A spinner combines the aspects of a plane and a helicopter, but is different in approach to the Osprey. The best examples I can think of off hand are found in the anime series Bubblegum: Crash, but of course you knew that right?