On Saturday, July 8, 2017 at 6:19:45 PM UTC-5, wrote:
As for acronyms that are widely in use, I have long wondered why people say
VEEtol and not VERtol. To me, the acronym would flow much better if spelled
out as the word Vertol.

Speaking of words flowing smoothly, aircraft in this new category (currently given the official title of "Powered Lift") would be known as:

Vertolhoppers.

And given the natural evolution of language in how things get shortened and smoothed over once people know what you're talking about ...as with how the "horseless carriage" got shortened to "car", we can expect that Vertolhopper would get shortened to Hopper.

Another distinction can be made with the subcategory of VTOL/HP aircraft that operate autonomously. These could be known as:

AVTOL/HP

Autonomous
Vertical
TakeOff &
Landing /
Horizontal
Plane

The acronym here can be pronounced as 'Avertolhop'. And this would have the connotation of how mishaps would be averted by removing the pilot out of the loop.

And the point made in a previous post about how computers are integral to these aircraft flying, this is even more so when operating autonomously. Here another tribute can be made. This subcategory of aircraft can be called:

Grace Hoppers

While Grace Hopper was not a pilot (as far as I know) she made huge accomplishments in computer programming. Through computer science, she made great contributions to aerospace. It's said she's the person who came up with the term 'computer bug'. And bugs fly too in a vertical takeoff/landing mode. And the name 'grace' seems to capture the beauty of flying. The AVTOL/HP is a 'graceful hopper'. That's along with the 'grace' of not needing any piloting skill to operate the vehicle. So it works on several levels.

I wonder if Lilium would consider naming their first flying car the Grace Hopper. Such a name could define this new category.

And according to Wikipedia, she had Dutch ancestry. That's got significant overlap with Deutsch.

Whoa. I just took a closer look at that Wikipedia article. While she was born Grace Murray, she took her surname from the man she was married to...

Vince Foster Hopper.

Interesting. For any aircraft category that gets invented, there is sure to be fatalities that will happen, sooner or later. Any vehicle will involve some risk of getting hurt while using it. If the name Grace Hoppers were to catch on, there would be this obscure connection to Hope, Arkansas. Even more obscure is the fact that this more famous Vince Foster's death happened on the 24th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's small step/giant leap. In total, there have been 24 human beings who have ventured off beyond low earth orbit. The Grace Hopper name tribute, followed down this particular rabbit hole, can be connected right back to aerospace.

~ COPE