Jalopnik
A technology start-up company founded by MIT graduate students could have a flying car to market as early 2009, according to CNet. The company, Terrafugia, is working up a SUV-cum-aircraft that will be able to carry two people and luggage on 100- to 500-mile jumps using a tank of premium unleaded gas. A working prototype is expected by 2008, but the company will display a scale model of its Transition Personal Air Vehicle at the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this July. Book your flight now, Oshkosh is murder in the summer. [Thanks to Chris and Jeff for the tip.]
Flying Car Ready for Takeoff [CNet]
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More on Flying Cars [internal]
Comments
Yet another flying car that never will be...
If there's a group of folks out there who can turn a "what if?" idea into a "why not!" project, it's engineers & folks like this bunch. IMHO, it looks like the best type of vehicle to get to/from Cambridge & around Boston!
I'd rather have a jetpack.
I've often wished I could just take off when I was stuck on Storrow Drive ...
It won't work. I imagine someone parking the thing in a garage, getting the wing dinged by the guy that parked next to him, not noticing, trying to fly, and having the wing freaking blow up in the air... Airplanes are just a huge ball of fatigue fractures, what's going to happen when you add in all the fatigue from driving around bumpy roads? If this gets made, expect a crapload of accidents to start happening after about a year.
The check's in the mail; I'm from the government and I'm here to help; and Terrafugia will have a flying car available for sale early in 2009. Hope springs eternal.
it's "CNET"
But, will it merit a write up in Winding Road?
Why do people think a car needs to be able to fly. Because it saves all the walking to get from one vehicle to another? Because you'd get sick of driving and decide to fly the rest of the way? Because you'd be flying somewhere and see a nice little town and decide to land and drive around? You could rent a car when you got there, but nooooo, that would be too much trouble! Every flying car has been based on the Amphbicar ideal; it's a bad car and a bad boat.
What Frank said. Carrying around all that extra plane shit makes for a terrible car, and carrying around all that extra car shit makes for a terrible plane. A stupid idea in every respect. I used to work for a guy with a private jet, and when we were about an hour away from an airport, the pilots would radio in and order a rental car, which would then be waiting at the ramp when we pulled up. Having a slow, short-ranged, fuel thirsty flying SUV would NOT have been a better alternative. WTF use is a plane with a 100 mile range anyway? Most GA airports are 20+ miles from where you want to go anyway. Just drive FFS.
I don't care what the rest of y'ouns say, I want a flying car. For those who can't afford the private jet, the airport storage fees, the pilot's license, etc this is what we need - volksflugzeug!
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