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Mar 20, 2009 05:30 PM | 8
At least that’s the plan for the half-car, half-plane hybrid craft called the Transition that’s in development by Woburn, Mass.–based company Terrafugia. On March 5, the Transition took off on its maiden flight from Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York. Though the test craft only reached about 100 feet (30 meters) and stayed aloft less than 40 seconds, the successful flight lets Terrafugia move forward with making a full prototype to test next summer.
“The story here is that this is real,” says retired Air Force Colonel Phil Meteer, chief test pilot for Terrafugia, a former fighter pilot who has now added a flying car to his roster of flown vehicles. “The concept of flying cars has come a long way from when I doodled them as a kid.”
Dimension-wise, the craft sports a wingspan of 27 and a half feet (8 meters) and is almost 19 feet (6 meters) long. Where do those wings go when not taking to the skies? They fold up against the craft’s sides so it takes up just six and a half feet (2 meters) when on the highway and the backstreets. Plus, this way the vehicle fits in your garage, Terrafugia says.
The company envisions the vehicle as one that amateur pilots can keep at home and take on recreational jaunts when they have the urge to take flight. Terrafugia intends for the Transition to reach an altitude of 1,700 feet (518 meters) and a cruising velocity of 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour. For the road and sky, it will use regular gasoline. Meteer says the Transition “drives nice” on hardtop, and that he had the hang of driving it after tooling around for a minute. The company intends for the craft to have a range of about 400 miles (644 kilometers), so depending on one’s speed, the Transition could stay aloft for four hours or so. 
Terrafugia says the Federal Aviation Administration qualifies the Transition as a Light-Sport Aircraft, which means that people who want to get a pilot’s license to fly it would avoid some of the considerable time and expense that full-scale certification entails for larger craft.
Forty-five people have already put deposits down on the Transition, Meteer says. The vehicle could be on the market as soon as 2011 for about $200,000 a pop, according to Terrafugia.
Other flying car concepts floating around today include the Haynes Skyblazer, a similar car-cum-plane combo, and the Parajet SkyCar, a dune buggylike vehicle powered on biofuels.
Another cutting-edge vehicle in the works in the U.K. is a jet- and rocket-powered car that could hit 1,000 miles (1609 kilometers) per hour in under 40 seconds, making it faster than a bullet shot from a .357 magnum. For more on that car, dubbed the Bloodhound SSC, check out this ScientificAmerican.com report.
Images Credit: Terrafugia
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jetsons,
flying car,
terrafugia
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8 Comments
Add CommentDid the developer test driving it on freeway? When flying, it maybe OK. But when you are driving on freeway, those collapsed wings and vertical ladders will cause many aerodynamical problems.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen I woke up on Jan 1 2000, I was very disappointed not to see such cars flying around. Better late than never, I guess.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is nice to see how impracticable, expensive, and family unfriendly they have designed a new car that would be a great benefit in cutting down on traffic congestion and environmental pollutions. Why do they even bother to show such a worthless concept when they know it will never see the light of day. Whatever happened to the helicopter car they spent millions on developing? I hope they are not getting any of the stimulus money for this unusable idea?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've got 5,000+ hours in twin and single engine high performance aircraft, and it occurs to me that unless this thing has fly-by-wire inhibiters built in there will be morons spirialing down in flames all across america. Safe piloting come from gaining experience and control from proper operating habits. This thing can't be that easy or safe to fly for 50 hour or less pilots.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis looks like flying car attempts from decades ago! Why are some people still obsessed with trying to merge a plane with a car? Surely it would be better to have an aircraft optimized for the air that was able to take off and land (ideally vertically) within walking distance from your home and destination rather than have to queue in a traffic jams around local airports if these things got popular.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPerhaps people have their own taste but I still prefer a vehicle with multi-functions, ideally a vehicle that can run, fly, float, dive, and even jump like a frog. This is the first step. But not that I'm pessimistic but if they don't hurry up a little bit, by the time such a vehicle is available, teleportation will be just another option, you know, to get from place to place.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust for the record, this is not a flying car - it's a "roadable airplane."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe're starting the end of the age of oil and here is a company that, presumably, has a business plan that relies on oil production continuing to increase and on gasoline prices staying low. What a crazy idea.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe they might get a few out for some super-rich pilots but this is completely irrelevant for 99.99% of the population and for any long term future.
Please don't mention bio-fuels or hydrogen.