An Aircar in Every Garage? The fantasy of a personal flying machine is lurching toward reality -

Technology Review ^ | May 23, 2003 | David Louis Dreier

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right, that engine looks pretty good!

[husky ed]

Like on The JETSON'S????

"Help! Help! Jane! Stop this crazy thing! Jane! Help! Jane!"

[Capriole]

This is a swell idea for so many reasons. The really neat thing is that if you smack into another ground vehicle at thirty miles an hour, you can survive the impact, but if you smack into another vehicle at thirty miles an hour when you're a thousand feet in the air, everybody falls to earth and dies.

Besides which, this will now make it entirely impossible to harden sensitive installations against terrorist attack. You'd not only have to keep ground vehicles from approaching the building but also air vehicles from flying near it. Not an easy problem to solve.

All that said, I'd still like a jet-pack, with a plexiglass bubble around it so I don't get my hair messed up. Great way to commute to work.

[Gary Boldwater]

That's Captiol Peak in the background. Are you the biplane pilot out of Aspen?

[Gary Boldwater]

Capitol

[G.Mason]

"Can't you just see the seasoned citizens meandering across the sky at 30MPH with their left turn signals on?"

Hey! I resemble that remark.

Let's even it up by adding, " and the un-seasoned citizens doing 120 and playing that damn rap crap with those bass speakers turned all the way up"!

I tell ya it's enough to vibrate that ole 8 engine whatchmacallit right out of the air ways.

Can't we just go with the teleporter and the orgasmatron?

[Saturnalia]

I'll take a FW-190, thanks.

[Jeff Chandler]

>>the un-seasoned citizens doing 120 and playing that damn rap crap with those bass speakers turned all the way up"!
<<

Flying over your house!

[Wilhelm Tell]

The government and the trial lawyers have really harmed general aviation. There was a time when one could buy a good used airplane and it was affordable -- they even made new airplanes for well-under $100,000! And not some kit either - a factory-built airplane made of metal. And insurance rates weren't in the stratosphere, either.

Between the government, the trial lawyers, the environmentalists and the safety Nazis, the Aircar will never get off the ground. And there IS a safety concern. Every day I see drivers who are not disciplined enough to stop at a stop sign, much less do anything more demanding. I hate to think of these people in control (?!) of a vehicle in the air at 300 mph. Is this elitist? Darn right! I think it should be moderately difficult to get a driver's license, and it should be moderately difficult to vote. Once people get an entitlement mentality about something, they will be reckless.

I would like to see tort reform and regulatory reform. This would enable people to buy real airplanes again, and these airplanes would cost as much as a good car instead of costing as much as a large house. I'm not holding my breath.

[G.Mason]

"Flying over your house!"

There goes the neighborhood!

Be warned ....... I have a potato gun.

[Rebelbase]

"Since the M400 came out, they're just not in demand."

[dalereed]

"It has a maximum VTOL net payload weight of 1,500 pounds and our preliminary studies show that for instances where short takeoff and landing is possible, the design can accommodate a net payload weight of 2,500 pounds."

If this guy is talking gross payload, less fuel as being net payload, he's dreaming!

My Saratoga (6 place Piper) had one of the best payloads of any light aircraft made and it's payload with full fuel was only around 1100 pounds. It would fly with almost anything you could put in it and shut the doors as long as it was balanced and I made one flight from Oceanside, CA to Houston TX 800# over gross but that still doesn't come close to 2500# net this dreamer is talking about.

[strela]

I recall a personal flying vehicle being discussed on FreeRepublic some time ago.

The web site (http://www.solotrek.com) is pretty sparse on information about further development of this concept.

[lib-r-teri-ann]

Well dang if this aint a coinkydink! I just spent an hour reading up on the Moller skycar and here comes a thread on FreeRepub!

Seems the Moller Skycar 400 is the front runner in the race for a working flying car and DEFINITELY NO. 1 in styling, my God this machine makes a Ferrari look like a Hyundai! This machine will actually be FAA certified in roughly 5 years while the others are still in testing. Heck the manufacturer is takin orders already!

[green team 1999]

it`s almost here,few days,few months,few years

and wait,and wait,and wait.

[Big Giant Head]

Just looking at the graphic you posted. It appears the rotary engine will have three simultaneous cycles at once. This would be the same as three cylinders in a typical reciprocating engine having the same cc per "stroke."

Now, if there are two rotors per station on the skycar x four stations, that's like having four six cylinder engines that weigh dramatically less than reciprocating engines, right?

So maybe that astronomical payload could happen.

[r9etb]

Most people can barely drive, and now we want to put them in the air?!!!

Can you imagine making the approach to your garage with a strong crosswind?

[genefromjersey]

Shades of POPULAR MECHANICS circa 1946 !!

[Truth29]

I wonder if the Department of Homeland Security will come along and determine that the war on terrorism precludes granting government approval. The Feds have restricted general aviation around DC and parts of NYC and I can see them being really alarmed at this device.

[zoyd]

I wonder if the Department of Homeland Security will come along and determine that the war on terrorism precludes granting government approval. The Feds have restricted general aviation around DC and parts of NYC and I can see them being really alarmed at this device.

So true. And from the responses on this board from the anti-aircar crowd, I'm of the opinion that ANY daring new technology will never 'get off the ground' because of the knee-jerk Public Safety concerns from the Luddites around here. Makes me think about all the anti-automobile rhetoric that went on 100 years ago, with horse lovers decrying the evils of motorized transportation.

It's like aspirin -- if it were invented or discovered today, it'd be prescription only.