Posted on 01/10/2009 7:35:53 PM PST by Squidpup
IS it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it’s both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.
If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.
Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage.
Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”
... The Transition, developed by former Nasa engineers, is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air.
Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.
Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of $200,000 (£132,000).
“For an airplane that’s very reasonable, but for a car that’s very much at the high end,” he conceded.
There are still one or two drawbacks. Getting insurance may be a little tricky and finding somewhere to take off may not be straightforward: the only place in the US in which it is legal to take off from a road is Alaska.
Dietrich is optimistic. He said: “In the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings.”
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
007 won’t be happy!
What about Europe’s climate?
Here we go again.............
Could flying squeegee men be far behind?
Actually, there is a car/airplane at the air museum in Seattle. It was made, driven, and flown in the 60s.
If it flies, doesn’t it cease being a car?
9/11 has guaranteed that there never will be a flying car sold to the general public. At least until we eliminate all the mooselimbs.
Unless you have an instrument rating and stay current flying a private aircraft for transportation is not very practical unless you have the time to sit weather out until you get VFR. However, the flying car sounds great for pilots who just want to have ground transportation when they arrive at their destination.
About 40 or so years ago someone hooked up a car to a Cessna Skymaster wing, it collapsed on its first take-off I think. That was the end of that.
George Jetson, call your office!
Yes its been done before, move on, nothing to see here.
With roomy panels for advertising too!
It’s more of a plane that can used as a car.
I drove a minivan across the Mackinaw bridge on a windy June day. Ain’t no way in hell you could get me to drive that across.
But calling it a driving plane just doesn’t sell so well.
Typical reporter: It will fly 500 miles on a TANK of fuel.
So: How BIG is a “tank.”
Someone is trying the same concept again using a Lotus Elise as the vehicle.
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