There have been many attempts at a flying car, but this one does look like it has a chance. The biggest problem with such vehicles has been what to do with the wings, but the Transition aircraft seems to have done a good job of addressing it.
Terrafugia, which is derived from the Latin for “escape from the earth,” was founded by graduates of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and incorporated in 2006. Currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Terrafugia combines solid aircraft design fundamentals with a focus on creativity and customer service.
Whether the Transition is a success or not, it will become a new chapter in aviation history along with the Volante, the ConvAIRCAR, and the Skycar.
Heh…
The wings don’t have enough surface area to generate sufficient lift.
Looks neat, though! Make a model, Testor Corp.!!
All I can say is : coolness !! I hope it works but, I see no real benefit for all the blithering idiots who think they know how to drive unless we really want road-to-air rage ? Gads ! What a sight !!
I guess they’ll be on the Doomed Engineers page, like the flying pinto guys:
http://world.std.com/~jlr/doom/blake.htm
The real question is “why?” Is there some great pent-up need for a conventional airplane that you can drive on the freeway? Or a totally impractical and “unsafe for the road” automobile that can fly?
It makes for a good master’s thesis, I suppose. And maybe they can milk some money out of some pie-in-the-sky investors.
While I and probably everyone else out there would love to have a flying car, the truth of the matter is these things are just not economically feasible. You can imagine that aside from possibly getting dented in the parking lot (which could affect you car’s air worthiness) there is the issue of insurance liabilities. Get enough of these actually flying and you’ll have people complaining of noise pollution from overflights and cars dropping out of the skies onto residential neighborhoods.It’s an interesting engineering exercise but it’s got too much going against it.
Too bad because a lot of us grew up watching the Jetsons with the expectation they’d be going to work in their flying cars and having their robot servants clean house in the years beyond 2000. The reality is that with todays energy prices, the best you can manage is maybe driving a Prius and owning a Roomba.
I like the ConvAIR Car idea better. Why carry around the wings, empennage, prop, etc. when you can just park all that at the airport where the flying surfaces would never be accidently damaged. Plus the car portion is simple and light.
But there is something to be said about pushing a button and it transforms into an airplane.
RBG
Hahaha,
This thing looks too funny, I check the website, cool animations,
I had a good laugh.
Delivery expected for LATE 2009!!!
Like people who trailer their boat back and forth to water, the only useful part of this is that you wouldn’t have to pay for airport or hangar space.
http://www.moller.com/
I’m going to wait for the Hybrid Version !
The Moller plane is a hover craft. It really works and makes god-awful noise.
With the wings of the Terrafugia, it might be just a ground effect plane, flying less than 4 feet off the ground. Extra lift with air compression.
More along the lines of a wheel-less car, less friction, better MPG, get-you-there faster.
To me the all-time flying car winner is the Cesna. A nice low purr noise.
One hell of a blind spot!
The no it doesn’t statment was regarding the Moller. For some reason it left out the blockquote.
That link isn’t working for me. But regardless, how would such a light automobile be any more dangerous than a motorcycle?
RBG
It’s not anymore dangerous but the government has imposed safety standards on automobiles that are FAR in excess of those on motorcycles.
That plane you can’t see will have a max gross weight of 1320 lbs. That the plane, fuel, passengers, and anything else I can stuff in there. Just the plane alone with no fuel and completely empty it only weight 750 pounds and of that over 200 is engine.
The Moeler sky car has worked for years. The G will never sanction this.
I don’t think this thing could ever be licensed for the road except possibly under the kit car requirements. In Texas, that means it has to pass automobile emission tests for the year of construction and have things like wiper blades and turn signals, etc.
If you were to buy a ready made Terrafugia, I would not fall under kit car laws. It would have to be built to federal regulations for front and side impact requirements, airbags, etc. The list is VERY long. That is why all production cars are so similar. And none of them are light enough to fly.
Jesse James of Monster Garage fame made a flying Panoz Esperante but I doubt you could drive it on the street. And it doesn’t fold up.
http://tinyurl.com/evtkh
As for the Moller Skycar, as far as I know, it has only ever hovered while tethered to a crane. That thing is a tool to sell worthless company stock. I will be shocked if it ever goes to production, let alone on an actual untethered flight.
Don’t forget, if you build it yourself you can fly it without a license.
#16 There are only two things the Moller Skycar has ever done.
A. Hover while tethered
B. Suck money out of investors.
#18. No you can’t. At least not in the US.
Sorry, I was thinking about single-passenger ultralights.