Flying Car Ready For Take-Off
Posted on: Sunday, 11 January 2009, 13:05 CST
The world’s first flying automobile is scheduled to take to the skies next month. The flying car, which can transform itself from a two-seater road vehicle to a plane in just 15 seconds, runs on normal unleaded fuel and can fit easily into a garage, according to its Massachusetts-based manufacturer.
Should it survive its initial test flight, the Terrafugia Transition is set to land in showrooms in about a year and a half, with a retail price of $200,000.
"This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle," Carl Dietrich, who leads Terrafugia, told the Times Online.
NASA engineers developed the Transition, which is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air. It can fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas at a cruising speed of 115mph, Terrafugia said. However, the vehicle has only been tested on the road at speeds up to 90 mph.
Dietrich said the company has already received 40 orders.
"For an airplane that’s very reasonable, but for a car that’s very much at the high end," he acknowledged.
However, challenges remain. For instance, obtaining insurance for the vehicle could be complicated, and regulatory obstacles in most states could make operating the Transition less straightforward. Indeed, Alaska is currently the only place in the entire U.S. in which it is legal to take off from a road.
But Dietrich is nevertheless optimistic.
"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," he said.
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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User Comments (3)
| 3. |
Posted by michael dean on 01/16/2009, 23:46 I think the car can be of great value in certain niches. I live in an isolated area and I could take off in one of those without a soul even seeingi it. For the right place , they would be quite practical, not for the big city but in the right spots. Im betting however, that if a flying car is to be perfected, it will be a car helicoptor that fills the bill. m d |
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Posted by qroberts on 01/12/2009, 06:51 Why does this keep getting touted as a flying car? It is nothing of the sort. It's a plane with folding wings that can drive a short distance to an airport to take off. When I think of flying cars I picture landing and taking off from my driveway, not "taxiing" to an airport and flying to another airport before I can land. It saddens me to say it but there will never be flying cars with mass commercial distribution. And frankly, unless they pilot themselves I would be horrified if there were flying cars. |
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Posted by potsonna on 01/11/2009, 19:22 Interesting! |
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