Again someone tries to build a “flying car”. A company called Terrafugia Inc., located in the state of Massachusetts, is building the so called “Transition”, a roadable aircraft. The light plane is designed to change configurations, enabling it to operate as a traditional vehicle on public roads. The plane will be capable of flying at 115 miles per hour – in car mode top speed will be 70 to 80 miles per hour.
The “Transition” can carry two people plus luggage and will operate within a range of 100 to 500 miles (800 km), on a single tank of premium unleaded gas .
The estimated purchase price is $148,000. They’re planning test flights later this year.
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The company’s CEO said, the design of the Terrafugia vehicle will address some of the problems that pilots encounter when they try to use their aircraft for actual travel, as opposed to weekend sightseeing. When they encounter bad weather in the Transition, they can simply land at the nearest airport and continue their journey on the road.
Read the full story at: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/10/19/fighting_to_take_off/
If you ask me, this idea is just ridiculous.
Thanks to Scott for sending in this story!
actually, i kinda like the idea, however primitive it is now; why give a car wings when it would seem much more prudent to give a plane wheels? that’s the thinking driving the company, which refrains from calling their creation a “flying car”. maybe in twenty years it’ll actually be practical…
Problem is…
You can’t just launch from your neighborhood street.
The speed needed to become airborne probably exceeds the speed limit.
Not to mention power lines etc.
Think you can just drive on to an airport and go?
I doubt it.
Don’t see any communication equipment installed.
Head to the Interstate for take off…
You’ll need to clear a path for your wings (hogging all three lanes)
Not too user friendly.
Much less trying to land in rush hour traffic.
true, there is little infrastructure for the concept, which is relatively new (in a practical sense), but how hard would it be for communities to build their own little airstrips (smaller than airfields) that residents could commute from? public buildings could maintain their own strips (inner-city ones would probably rely on airstrips in the outskirts). utilities can be relocated underground, headset communications based off cellphones wouldn’t be too difficult, and i thought the whole concept of a flying car was to eliminate traffic!
not to say the idea is appropriate in these economic times, but… it would be workable