Flying car closes in on FAA OK

Boston Hearald ^ | 8/15 | Boston Hearald

[dalereed]

Flying car closes in on FAA OK

Terrafugia already has more than 100 orders for its $279,000 aircraft

By Marie Szaniszlo Sunday, August 12, 2012 - Updated 4 days ago

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Four months after its debut at the New York International Auto Show, Woburn-based Terrafugia’s version of the “flying car” has buzzed into a second phase of testing, with hopes of obtaining final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in the coming months.

If everything goes according to plan, the Transition could earn its light sport aircraft air-worthiness certificate this winter, allowing it to go to market. The first delivery is expected in September 2013, said Cliff Allen, Terrafugia’s vice president of sales.

“Our No. 1 priority right now is getting our certification,” Allen said.

Although the company has already received more than 100 orders for the $279,000 aircraft, it will produce an initial edition of 10 so that it can monitor them before beginning full production in 2014, he said. Nearly a quarter of the people who have placed deposits on the Transition so far do not have pilot’s licenses, Allen added.

“We find that interesting because it’s bringing new people into aviation,” he said.

For now, the Transition has been making 1 1⁄2-hour deployments from Plattsburgh International Airport, a former Air Force base in New York. Terrafugia chose the airport because it is uncongested and has an 11,000-foot runway, features that make it safe for test flights, Allen said. There, it has been doing climbs, descents and turns to make sure everything works, he said.

After those have been completed, the Transition will do compliance flights to show the FAA that the Transition has met all of the agency’s requirements, Allen said.

The final phase of test flights involves the most extreme maneuvers, including dive testing and spin testing, he said.

The Transition will also undergo drive testing in three-mile laps at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway at higher and higher speeds for longer and longer times to ensure its durability, Allen said.

“They’re chasing a lifelong dream,” Semyon Dukach, one of Terrafugia’s board members and angel investors, said of the company’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained aeronautics engineers. “It’s an improbable dream. People have been talking about flying cars for 50 years. But they took a practical attitude from day one.

“Their No. 1 goal is to have a plane that’s safer than any other small plane,” he added, “and now it’s moving toward production.”

-— mszaniszlo@bostonherald.com

[Fresh Wind]

They might get approval to fly the thing, but they’ll never get approval to drive it past the gate at the airport.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Youngest daughter tried to fly our old 94 Buick. Every time I see her, I ask if I can borrow her car. I want to see how far her Honda can fly.

My father-in-law, of blessed memory, used to buy Buicks and trade them well before most people would find it necessary.

He told the story of a young man who drove a VW, and whose father always razzing him about when was he going to get a real car. So he bought a Buick that my father-in-law had just traded in, and promptly took it for a joyride. Which ended in a high speed encounter with a bridge abutment . . .

[SuziQ]

Nah, the car will be WAY too expensive for 98% of drivers, so there won’t be that many in the air at any one time.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Oh, you'll coast to a stop, all right.

Guaranteed to always get you to the crash site.

[Durus]

How is that different from every other plane? Are you seriously suggesting “plane control” because terrorists have used them as bombs? What’s next, banning vests?

[ZX12R]

Hey look. Someone built a plane. *yawn*

[Vigilanteman]

We had one even earlier, back in 1968, I believe:

[Turbopilot]

You forgot your /s tag.

[taildragger]

2 things...

* I want to hear this airplane fly i.e. the air into the prop after all that fuselage etc drag...and how noise it makes might tell how efficient it is, this is tough for Pusher Props.
* And I want to see "Tuft" test in the aft fuselage area....

[gymbeau]

I agree, but will the Moller ever become more than vaporware?

Hope so! I’d love one!

cheers,
Jim

[af_vet_rr]

My God, 98% of the drivers out there (and that’s a low estimate) can’t handle 2 dimensions and now we are going to add a 3rd.

It’s going to be a slaughter

I watched my neighbor try to use his new electric lawnmower. He ran over the power cord within 5 minutes. If this man ever moved out to the country to make a go of farming, he'd be buying his neighbors new fences within a half hour of him getting on a tractor with anything attached to the back end.

How this man has a license to operate a vehicle on our roads confuses the hell out of me (and scares me to boot).

[af_vet_rr]

This would soon become a terrorists new best friend!! Just load it up with your favorite explosive material and fly it to it's destination and deliver the payload!!! ..... Yup, this invention is a great idea ..... NOT.

I like the sarcasm, but there are complete idiots out there that think of everything in terms of whether a terrorist could use it or not. They sh** their pants over thoughts of terrorism, even though a drunk American is liable to kill them long before a terrorist ever will.

These people would ban cell phones, ban private vehicles and force us to go through TSA screening for public transportation, ban guns and knives, and just let the government grow unchecked in order to "protect" them.

[R_Kangel]

..... DAMMIT!!!!! ........ Always forget something ....... so here it is < /sarcasm >