Flying Car ping...
Flying Car ping...
At least this guy was planning on leaving the ground!
There I was just driving along and this house leapt in front of me. I tried to avoid it by making my car jump but I couldn’t get high enough, my car that is.
Maybe he should have bought one of these...
That’s a great 30 year photo!
But what the heck — it’s Yuk! Yuk! for a Saturday night.
Let's be "frank" about this.
My fire dept had a car stuck 15 feet up in a tree after a chase. No serious injuries, just a long technical extracation.
by Lisa Zyga [Inventors Spot.com]
When most people think of flying cars, they think of the Jetsons TV show, and speculate that, maybe one day in the far-off future, people may drive flying cars. You might be surprised to know that flying cars have been in development since the 1930s--even before the Jetsons.
Maybe it shouldn't be that surprising, though. After all, we have cars, and we have planes--is it that far-fetched to combine the two? There is serious research going on today to investigate the possibilities for flying cars.
The W-5 Arrowbile, designed in 1936, was called a "hybrid flying auto." On roads, the all-metal, three-wheeled Arrowbile could travel up to 70 mph; and in the air, 120 mph. Because it had three wheels and a single headlight, the DMV actually classified it as a motorcycle. The Arrowbile was quite easy to operate, as demonstrated by the fact that a businessman with only 35 hours' flight experience flew one from Washington, D.C. in his business suit.
One of the most famous flying cars is Aerocar's Aerocar, built in 1946, which was called a "roadable aircraft." Designed by Moulton Taylor, the Aerocar had wings that folded up, allowing the car to be easily converted into flight mode by a single person in just five minutes. When the rear license plate was flipped up, the propeller shaft and a pusher propeller could be attached. When driving on the road, the wings and tail unit were simply towed behind the vehicle. As a car, the Aerocar could drive up to 60 miles per hour, and had a top airspeed of 110 miles per hour.
The AVE Mizar (named after the star), was built in 1971 by Henry Smolinski. The flying car was a true hybrid, with the front half modeled on a Ford Pinto and the back half consisting of a Cessna Skymaster plane. For taking off, the flying car used both the car engine and the aircraft engine, and the car engine was shut off once the car was airborne. AVE had scheduled production for 1974, but unfortunately, the year before, one of the models got in an accident during a test flight. The right wing detached and the Pinto was separated from the wings, resulting in a fiery crash that killed Smolinski and the pilot. The car was said to have been slightly over the weight limit during the trial, but the Mizar legend ended with the crash.
The Strong Mobile Magic Dragon Aircar has been worked on by retired Air Force pilot-engineer Rich Strong over the past 50 years. Strong hopes to entice business travelers to invest in a Magic Dragon Aircar, which he claims can fly a few hundred miles in a few hours-or, about twice the speed of a car on the highway. The aircar also works both on the roads and in the air, with the wings folding up in the body when in drive mode, and in flight mode, a duct fan on the front of the aircar provides propulsion.
Its 50 yards out, the car is up. ITS GOOOOOOD
We obviously need a federal law making it illegal for cars to leave the ground. Problem solved.
Can you imagine what it would be like if we really had flying cars. Crap it would be a horrendous goat screw, 50,000 DOA, a year would be a very low figure.
Self-ping.
A similar situation happened here in Greenville SC this past spring...some guy having just left a local country club wedding reception drove his Maserati at least 85MPH on a 35MPH road, went off through a field (about 400-500 feet) hit a berm and flew into the back of a house, went straight through, but sadly killed the owner sitting in his living room watching t.v. The driver of the car claimed he swerved to miss a deer. Needless to say it’s big news down here and the guy will be going on trial for murder...yes, he’s been charged with murder.
After his arraignment Saturday in First District Court in Central Islip, at which Clark was ordered locked up on $1,000 bail, his father said he was relieved no one got hurt.
“It’s just one of these unfortunate things,” said the dad, who did not give his name. “These kids have growing pains.”
The dad insisted his son, who he said had attended Westhampton Beach High School, is not a fast driver. He said his son has “always been a good kid” and “never was in bad trouble.”
During the arraignment, Clark said, “I’m very, very sorry for everything I caused.”
Police seized a blood sample from Clark, who reeked of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, was unsteady on his feet and failed a succession of field sobriety tests, they said.
Clark and his passenger, Richard Mailand, 20, of East Moriches, were brought to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, checked over for minor injuries and released, police said.