Posted on 02/02/2017 1:24:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Even before George Jetson entranced kids with his cartoon flying car, people dreamed of soaring above traffic congestion. Inventors and entrepreneurs have long tried and failed to make the dream a reality, but that may be changing.
Nearly a dozen companies around the globe, including some with deep pockets such as European aircraft maker Airbus, are competing to be the first to develop a new kind of aircraft that will enable commuters to glide above crowded roadways. A few of the aircraft under development are cars with wings that unfold for flight, but most aren’t cars at all. Typically they take off and land vertically like helicopters. Rather than a single, large main rotor, they have multiple small rotors. Each rotor is operated by a battery-powered electric motor instead of a conventional aircraft piston engine.
(Excerpt) Read more at onlineathens.com ...
How about mastering ground driving first
The Jestsons promised us a flying car in this century. I want my flying car.
What could possibly go wrong? 99% of people who drive cars can’t handle that task and we’re going to give them wings? Feh. The insurance premiums alone will sink that idea.
Ever watch the videos on youtube, from Russia?
Policing airborne traffic is gonna be fun.
And media will film the chases from the paved highways?
Autopilot. Just key in your destination. Sue the car company in case of an accident.
More of a skeet shooter’s dream actually.
Flying cars are like fusion power - always 20 years away from realization.
Or Peak Oil.
I can see it now. People texting and flying.
It’s a fun idea, and an engineering challenge, but we just don’t need a flying car. A swarm of flying cars would cause new dimensions of problems and risks. I can see having such a vehicle for special missions, say in the Antartic, but not as an aerial expressway. Will the police be flying too? Could they disable a flier who refused to ‘pull over’? To where would we ‘pull over’? One cannot land just anywhere.
Autopilot. Just key in your destination. Sue the car company in case of an accident.
Yes. Autonomous flying vehicles are easier and simpler than autonomous cars. Centralized airspace control over urban areas. 100 foot vertical zones for directional change.
All the potential is currently there; it just needs to be put together.
“Never fly any higher than you’re willing to fall”.
Stay out of my airspace!!
Most people can't drive in two dimensions. The third would lead to calamity.
They’ve been developed multiple times before. Problem is they suck. The weight of all the car parts make them not very useful as planes and there’s really nothing you can do with the wings in car mode that isn’t irritating. Unless we actually get some sort of repulsor tech ala Blade Runner it’s a non-starter.
Commuter Nightmare : If you think surface 50-car accidents in fog are spectacular bloodbaths, Wait until there's a 50 flying coffin accident which falls onto your neighborhood.
Or even a two-car flying coffin accident with retarded Democrats COMMUTING while texting.
DUMBEST IDEA SINCE THE NOTION THAT A DELUSIONALLY INSANELY GREEDY AND POWER-HUNGRY UGLY DRUNK FAT WOMAN WOULD MAKE A GREAT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE!
Unless these flying cars are VTOL, forget it. How many companies have a landing strip? And who is going to control traffic so some genius doesn’t barge out onto the strip just when someone else is coming in on final? A pilot’s license is MANDATORY!
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