The Lantern Project is a mobile fingerprint scanner already in use in the UK: NPIA I've seen it being used in the field on a reality TV show called "Police Interceptors" (yes, edited clips to make the Police look good)....the one time it confirmed a driver was who they said they were when they had no id on them. The other time the copper said, "no, you are actually Frank Smith, date of birth xxx", the suspect confirmed this and was arrested for outstanding warrants.

I hope they have a few air strips along the way that are long enough for the flyer to land successfully - you know, in case of emergency.

I'm sure landing would not be a problem. A large amount of the weight at take off would be fuel. After jettisoning any fuel this plane could land on a regular size runway anywhere in the world.