A Flying Car Finally!
Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:31 pm
I actually read this last year, but I thought i could bring up this certain article. I brought it up in a different Thread, but I thought i'd post the article.(Originally posted August 3, 2010)
The idea of a flying car seems ridiculous. The Jetsons had one in a 1960s cartoon series, but then again, they also had a talking robot for a housekeeper! It turns out, though, that flying cars are not only realisticthey're also real. A company called Terrafugia says it plans to make a car-plane called the Transition available to consumers by the end of 2011.
The Transition is a long way from cartoon dad George Jetson's flying car. There's no launch button on the Transition's instrument panel, notes Richard Gersh, vice president of Terrafugia. Instead, the car-plane has wings that unfold for flyinga process that the company says takes one minuteand fold back up for driving. This transformation can't take place on a road or in a driveway. That's because, like every other plane, the Transition needs a runway to take off and land.
Still, Terrafugia (the name is Latin for "escape from the land") is pitching the Transition to private pilots as a more convenient and cheaper way to fly. The company says that with a car-plane, there's no need to find another form of transportation to get to and from airports. You drive the car to the airport, and then you're good to go. When you land, you fold up the wings and hit the road. There are no expensive hangar fees, because you don't have to store the car-plane at an airport. You park the vehicle in the garage at home.
Terrafugia's Web site looks something from the future.Right here! One photo shows the Transition, looking very much like a small plane, taking off from a runway; another shows the vehicle in the air. Another image shows the Transition in its owner's driveway with its wings folded at its side. The car-plane takes up about as much space as a small recreational vehicle (RV).
Buyers of the Transition will likely want to know how the car-plane works. When the Transition acts as a car, its gas mileage is about 30 miles per gallon, making it fuel-efficient. The plane has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds. It is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet, or about 25,000 feet below large commercial jets. The Transition's fairly low flying altitude makes it safe, Terrafugia officials say. Why? The vehicle can fly below storms, rather than flying through them, as some small planes must do.
The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than as a car that flies, although it is a combination of both. Terrafugia has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to meet aircraft regulations; it has also been working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations. Recently, the FAA allowed the car-plane to be categorized a Light Sport Aircraft, even though it is 120 pounds over the weight limit for that type of aircraft. This will allow licensed pilots with varying levels of experience to fly the Transition.
Once the Transition clears its safety hurdles, it will be available to the public with a basic price tag of $194,000. Buyers who want other options, like a radio and a global positioning system (GPS), will have to pay more. Another option is a full-plane parachute.
"[A parachute is] the ultimate safety option," Gersh said.
Can you really expect to see this flying car in the sky? Terrafugia says you can. As of July 2010, the company had taken more than 70 orders for the Transition.
The idea of a flying car seems ridiculous. The Jetsons had one in a 1960s cartoon series, but then again, they also had a talking robot for a housekeeper! It turns out, though, that flying cars are not only realisticthey're also real. A company called Terrafugia says it plans to make a car-plane called the Transition available to consumers by the end of 2011.
The Transition is a long way from cartoon dad George Jetson's flying car. There's no launch button on the Transition's instrument panel, notes Richard Gersh, vice president of Terrafugia. Instead, the car-plane has wings that unfold for flyinga process that the company says takes one minuteand fold back up for driving. This transformation can't take place on a road or in a driveway. That's because, like every other plane, the Transition needs a runway to take off and land.
Still, Terrafugia (the name is Latin for "escape from the land") is pitching the Transition to private pilots as a more convenient and cheaper way to fly. The company says that with a car-plane, there's no need to find another form of transportation to get to and from airports. You drive the car to the airport, and then you're good to go. When you land, you fold up the wings and hit the road. There are no expensive hangar fees, because you don't have to store the car-plane at an airport. You park the vehicle in the garage at home.
Terrafugia's Web site looks something from the future.Right here! One photo shows the Transition, looking very much like a small plane, taking off from a runway; another shows the vehicle in the air. Another image shows the Transition in its owner's driveway with its wings folded at its side. The car-plane takes up about as much space as a small recreational vehicle (RV).
Buyers of the Transition will likely want to know how the car-plane works. When the Transition acts as a car, its gas mileage is about 30 miles per gallon, making it fuel-efficient. The plane has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds. It is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet, or about 25,000 feet below large commercial jets. The Transition's fairly low flying altitude makes it safe, Terrafugia officials say. Why? The vehicle can fly below storms, rather than flying through them, as some small planes must do.
The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than as a car that flies, although it is a combination of both. Terrafugia has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to meet aircraft regulations; it has also been working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations. Recently, the FAA allowed the car-plane to be categorized a Light Sport Aircraft, even though it is 120 pounds over the weight limit for that type of aircraft. This will allow licensed pilots with varying levels of experience to fly the Transition.
Once the Transition clears its safety hurdles, it will be available to the public with a basic price tag of $194,000. Buyers who want other options, like a radio and a global positioning system (GPS), will have to pay more. Another option is a full-plane parachute.
"[A parachute is] the ultimate safety option," Gersh said.
Can you really expect to see this flying car in the sky? Terrafugia says you can. As of July 2010, the company had taken more than 70 orders for the Transition.
