Flying cars aren't just science fiction anymore.

[jimmy olsen]

This thing looks retarded. The investors are suckers.

Click to see the pic
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/motoring/6684255/Flying-car-gets-closer-to-reality-with-test-flight

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Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia Inc said today (NZ time) that its prototype flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year.

The vehicle - dubbed the Transition - has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. Last month, it flew at 426 metres for eight minutes. Commercial jets fly at 10,600m.

Around 100 people have already put down a US$10,000 (NZ#12,140) deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don't expect it to show up in too many driveways. It's expected to cost US$279,000 (NZ$338,700).

And it won't help if you're stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.

The flying car has always had a special place in the American imagination. Inventors have been trying to make them since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst who owns RW Mann & Co in Port Washington, New York.

But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already granted the company's request to use special tyres and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add about three kilograms to the vehicle. The Transition is currently going through a battery of automotive crash tests to make sure it meets US federal safety standards.

Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration's decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft. The standards govern the size and speed of the plane and licensing requirements for pilots, which are less restrictive than requirements for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a relatively low hurdle for pilots.

The Transition can reach around 112 kilometres per hour on the road and 185kmh in the air, spokesman Steven Moscaritolo said. It flies using an 87-litre tank of automotive fuel and burns 19 litres per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 6.72 litres per 100 kilometres.

Mann questions the size of the market for the Transition. The general aviation market has been in decline for two decades, he said, largely because of fuel costs and the high cost of liability for manufacturers. Also, fewer people are learning how to fly.

"This is not going to be an inexpensive aircraft to produce or market," he said. "It has some uniqueness, and will get some sales, but the question is, could it ever be a profitable enterprise?"

Mann sees the western U.S. as the most likely market, where people could fly instead of driving long distances.
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Terrafugia has been working on flying cars since 2006, and has already pushed back the launch once. Last summer the company said it would have to delay expected 2011 deliveries due to design challenges and problems with parts suppliers.

With the appearance in New York, the company hopes to attract the eye of customers as well as investors.

"We are introducing ourselves as a viable company to the automotive world," Moscaritolo said.

- AP

[KRonn]

I could use one of these for my commute, except the commute is now only about 2.5 miles since my company opened up a new, large office building neary my house. Loving that commute, I tell ya!   

[Monoriu]

It looks like a small plane that failed to disguise as a car.  The problem is if there are more than a few of these things flying around, there has to be a regulation and traffic control system in place.  Otherwise you'll end up with crashes and accidents all over the place. 

[DGuller]

Flying cars are nothing new.  Mercedes even raced one at Lemans in 1999.

[Darth Wagtaros]

18 rods to the hogshead? How abotu converting that metric shit to American Tim.

[Syt]

Flying cars are nothing new. 

Indeed not.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2550902895914120566

[Iormlund]

It looks like a small plane that failed to disguise as a car.  The problem is if there are more than a few of these things flying around, there has to be a regulation and traffic control system in place.  Otherwise you'll end up with crashes and accidents all over the place.

You'll have to land and take off at airports, do all sorts of pre-flight checks and submit a flight plan before going anywhere. So it'll take 3 times as much to commute as simply driving yourself to work.

[grumbler]

I'd have to see it in flying configuration, but that vehicle doesn't have nearly the necessary ground clearance for landing an aircraft in any kind of windy conditions.  Those wheels are tiny (for an airplane) and won't absorb much shock at all.  Unless I am missing something, this vehicle seems like a conversation piece more than practical transport.

[Neil]

They've had flying cars similar to that since at least the 80s.  The advance of technology has ground to a standstill.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I'd have to see it in flying configuration, but that vehicle doesn't have nearly the necessary ground clearance for landing an aircraft in any kind of windy conditions.  Those wheels are tiny (for an airplane) and won't absorb much shock at all.  Unless I am missing something, this vehicle seems like a conversation piece more than practical transport.

I'm guessing you buy this to say you own one, just like any expensive piece of flair.

[DontSayBanana]

Yeah, we've had flying car designs for quite some time now.  Most of them are pretty similar to that design, folding- or retractable-wing light planes with a small enough footprint to operate on a road.

What's stopped them isn't technology, it's bureaucracy, at least in the US.  The intersection of FAA and NHTSA regulations that a vehicle like this would require are an administrative nightmare, completely counterintuitive, and anathema to investment in the designs.