Flying Car Prepares for Test Drive

Flying Car Prepares for Test Drive

www.foxnews.com

Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually, it’s both. The first flying car, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.

If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.

Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit in a garage.

Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”

The Transition, developed by former NASA engineers, is powered by the same 100 bhp engine on the ground and in the air.

Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas at a cruising speed of 115 mph. Up to now, however, it has only been tested on roads at up to 90 mph.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow man this would be cool as hell if this really works. Ive been paying attention to these stories for years now and to now see it could actually come true is awsome. I wonder what the price tag would be for one of these bad boys and how the enforcement would be on them. Would we have to fly over roads or could you cross over land masses. Would there be a speed limit? All sorts of questions...



www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah, you're gonna need that flight capability to avoid crashes because that car looks like it will crumble on collision.

Aha these americans with their not down-to-earth ideas... imagine if you have an accident with this made in usa junk lol.
Next step is the flying Dutchman as seen in the J.Depp movie.

Well at least he's tried

I wonder what bank did finance this project

reply to post by tjeffersonsghost


I bet the insurance sure is high.

Where do those wings go? They need to post more is of it.

How much does it cost?

-Lahara

reply to post by TheRandom1


The Times (London) is reporting a cost of $200,000 , with 40 advanced orders already placed. Cruising speed is "only" 115mph though, isn't that rather slow for a flying thing ?

The Times (London)(flying car)

Originally posted by Niall197
Cruising speed is "only" 115mph though, isn't that rather slow for a flying thing?

Yeah, it is slow, but its the first one. The first cars weren't very fast, nor were the first airplanes.

Give it a few years of developments, and tweaks, and hopefully some new design, and that number will increase.

So I am assuming if your car flies, you need a special license right? I certainly don't want some rich 18 year old kid getting a flying car for his birthday with just a regular old drivers license.

Great find!

I doubt these will ever be meant for soccer moms but more likely for already trained pilots.

I can see all sorts of public issues - can you imagine these things flying low over housing estates causing noise and fumes and god forbid if they fall out of the sky....then you need room to land and take off...

I am still waiting for the George Jetson type craft - vertical take off / landing and fully automated controls and navigation....but I suppose we have to crawl before we can walk

Cool idea but...watch the project completely drop off the radar some time soon. Sure it's not free energy but the big boys won't like this too much. The project will get bought out by some private corporation(or bank, or "rich individuals") and never be heard of again. Happened before, will happen again.

How big are the actual cars can the fit in a regular space ?

Will you need a pilots license to fly on.

Why is it being called a car it is more like an airplane that can be driven on the road. (when I think of flying car I think of something like from Back to the Future otherwise its just a small airplane)




Im waiting for the jetson's version

[edit on 11-1-2009 by jatsc]

Yeah that thing is more of an airplane than a flying car. I mean airplanes can drive on the ground too. I flying car would need not to have a runway to take off. It should be able to hover and that thing is not going to fit in any parking place.

yeah,,, i saw the thread about this yesterday,,,,,

here,,,
www.abovetopsecret.com...'




also there was a very similar car/plane built in the 50's-60's in the us

pictures of it on other thread

Well, we won't need to worry about terrorists getting their hands on these and crashing them in to buildings because what ever building they targeted would probably win that battle. This thing looks like it'll fall apart if a bird craps on it.

As some of you already stated, firstly it looks like a car with so many fins and some cumbersome that it could hardly be used on any freeways,parking spots would have to be huge or you'd need to double park,I am pretty sure the dmv wont authorize this on the road just because not even an idiot would thin operating a tin can that can fly is safe on the streets, I mean will it even fit in one single lane??? Lets not forget that if your in a pinch, and you got a couple cops behind you all you gotta do is get in the air before the strips get laid out on ya!...Secondly, this so called flying car is nothing more than a scaled down cessna for the most part and lets think about the reputation cessna's have with reliability and safety? This thing is just a series of fatalities just waiting happen.

image.motortrend.com... sition-driving-mode.jpg


Doesn't look big and unwieldy.

I like it.

maybe it doesnt look massive, but are you seriously going to take that on the freeway? Just off the top I know for sure those wings folded as they are create terribly crippling blindspots, parking that thing in a long enough spot seems challenging, and again, an impact in that thing would not be pretty, you got room in there for an air bag? nevermind that might just break your neck....