posted on Feb, 26 2011 @ 08:59 PM
Originally posted by paranormal78
the first article i read about this "flying car in Australia" was on an online news article called the register.a British news paper that posts
online articles as well as paper articles.
Is this it?
Source:
www.dailytelegraph.com.au...
THE Terrafugia Transition, a light aircraft that can convert into a road-legal automobile, is to go into production after being given a special weight
exemption by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The Transition was designed as a "light sport" aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane allowed under FAA classification, with a maximum
weight of 1,320lb, reports The Register.
But the manufacturers found it impossible to fit the safety features - airbags, crumple zones and roll cage, for instance - that are required for road
vehicles into that weight.
Uniquely, however, the FAA has granted the Transition an exemption - allowing it to be classified as a light sport aircraft despite being 120lb over
the limit.
Light sport aircraft licences require just 20 hours' flying time, making them much easier to obtain than full private licences.
The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at 12.75km per litre. Once it has
arrived at a suitable take-off spot - an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land - it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing
propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.
Its cruising speed in the air is 185kmh, 115mph, it has a range of 740km, and it can carry 200kg. It requires a 0.5kg-long runway to take off and can
fit in a standard garage