Posted on 08/02/2010 7:43:49 AM PDT by JoeProBono
For anyone whos ever wanted to skip airport security lines and boarding delays, a newly designed flying car may pave the way for future personal transportation.
Developers unveiled a scale model of the redesigned Transition "roadable aircraft" (pictured in a digital rendering) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Monday. The new design is both a rear-wheel drive road vehicle and a light sport aircraft that can cruise at 105 miles (170 kilometers) an hour.
Developed by the Terrafugia company, the tweaked designwhich adds carlike headlights and a license plate holder, among other thingsfollows a proof-of-concept Transition, which was successfully tested in 2009.
imagine the seniors, “flight 1234, why do you have your left turn signal on?”
Given how autopilots can fly a 747 without a pilot, I imagine these will be very marketable as self flying vehicles.
This way you can live out in the country and fly over the Obamavilles in order to work in the city.
Two guys tried it with a Pinto once too. They took the rear engine, wings, and tail assembly from a Cessna 337 Skymaster and bolted it to a Pinto hatchback. On its first flight, the sheet metal screws ripped loose just after takeoff, catapulting the Pinto out into the void and killing both inventors when it hit the ground.
}:-)4
The Flying Car is like the Great Pumpkin of the engineering world.
From what I see here the obstacle to the flying car is wings and fuel.
Useful wings are too big to drive with, not enough fuel can be carried to give it enough range.
I can see converting a Pinto to a boat anchor, but an airplane????
Looks like the worst of both worlds...
until you can pick up hot chicks in a flying car, they are all just nerdmobiles en route to mama’s basement appartment.
They’d either need to add some infrastructure or dumb down the cars with total autopilot control while airborne for this to become mainstream. Otherwise, everyone would need their Private certificate and Instrument rating. The costs of obtaining those would prevent the numbers of pilot/drivers (drilots? pilvers?), just as it does now.
It wouldn’t be impossible, and I’d love to see it happen, but I don’t think it’d be the “wild blue yonder” once those improvements were made. Just a functional system with little freedom.
Not to mention - with Britt Ekland in the trunk!
Yep, seriously. Google “AVE Mizar” for more information on it. It actually looks almost exactly like your Matador picture:
http://jalopnik.com/238836/the-flight-of-pegasus-the-ave-mizar
}:-)4
Hey, some engineers like a challenge! ;^)
NOW we’re talkin’.
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