Posted on 08/16/2012 7:10:14 PM PDT by dalereed
Flying car closes in on FAA OK
Terrafugia already has more than 100 orders for its $279,000 aircraft
By Marie Szaniszlo Sunday, August 12, 2012 - Updated 4 days ago
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Four months after its debut at the New York International Auto Show, Woburn-based Terrafugia’s version of the “flying car” has buzzed into a second phase of testing, with hopes of obtaining final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in the coming months.
If everything goes according to plan, the Transition could earn its light sport aircraft air-worthiness certificate this winter, allowing it to go to market. The first delivery is expected in September 2013, said Cliff Allen, Terrafugia’s vice president of sales.
“Our No. 1 priority right now is getting our certification,” Allen said.
Although the company has already received more than 100 orders for the $279,000 aircraft, it will produce an initial edition of 10 so that it can monitor them before beginning full production in 2014, he said. Nearly a quarter of the people who have placed deposits on the Transition so far do not have pilot’s licenses, Allen added.
“We find that interesting because it’s bringing new people into aviation,” he said.
For now, the Transition has been making 1 1⁄2-hour deployments from Plattsburgh International Airport, a former Air Force base in New York. Terrafugia chose the airport because it is uncongested and has an 11,000-foot runway, features that make it safe for test flights, Allen said. There, it has been doing climbs, descents and turns to make sure everything works, he said.
After those have been completed, the Transition will do compliance flights to show the FAA that the Transition has met all of the agency’s requirements, Allen said.
The final phase of test flights involves the most extreme maneuvers, including dive testing and spin testing, he said.
The Transition will also undergo drive testing in three-mile laps at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway at higher and higher speeds for longer and longer times to ensure its durability, Allen said.
“They’re chasing a lifelong dream,” Semyon Dukach, one of Terrafugia’s board members and angel investors, said of the company’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained aeronautics engineers. “It’s an improbable dream. People have been talking about flying cars for 50 years. But they took a practical attitude from day one.
“Their No. 1 goal is to have a plane that’s safer than any other small plane,” he added, “and now it’s moving toward production.”
-— mszaniszlo@bostonherald.com
“Youngest daughter tried to fly our old 94 Buick.”
My wife tried to race a train in her dad’s new buick shortly after she got her license on her 16th birthday and lost!!!
It’s the “spork” of airplanes ...
Kind of neet for short vacations and commutes!
Keep it in your garage at home and never have to rent a car at your destination!
Only half right, he forgot to deploy the wings!!!
Watched that one live!
Thank you, I didn’t have to post it.
You can have 3 Horizontal lanes and add 50 vertical lanes and I guarantee in the top left fast lane there will still be some @)&*!@(* driving/flying under the speed limit refusing to move over (or drop down) to the right slow lanes
While talking or texting on the phone.
"He walks away from that without a scratch, then breaks his foot playing frisbee!!!!!!"
Wonder if that really happened?
As my son told me one day, "A plane is a flying car".
..... LOL..... like they will let mere civilians just buy one and fly away huh? ....... Maybe the FAA may give it a green light ..... But the DHS, CIA, FBI, and every other Law Enforcement and alphabet National Security organization will shut it down before it even has a chance to leave the ground.
This would soon become a terrorists new best friend!! Just load it up with your favorite explosive material and fly it to it's destination and deliver the payload!!!
..... Yup, this invention is a great idea ..... NOT.
Misnomer. It’s a readable aircraft and not Henry Ford’s vision....
The PAL-V is closer...
Misnomer. It’s a roadable aircraft and not Henry Ford’s vision....
The PAL-V is closer...
ROFL! I don't care who you are, that's funny!
Thanks for the ping.
Rest in Peace, Molt Taylor.
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