Flying Car Progress

[kolibri282]

The Terrafugia has just completed a first flight between two airports of 35 minutes duration.

https://www.risingkashmir.com/Flyin...tory--completes-first-inter-city-flight-69397

In the text below we find the information that:
"In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration recently granted Terrafugia's roadable airplane a special certificate in the light sport category (S-LSA), making it legal for flight."
https://www.engadget.com/aircar-first-inter-city-flight-092852060.html

It seems they have solved all technical problems so let's keep our fingers crossed they also clear all bureaucratic hurdles to obtain air and road certification!

 

[bugflyer]

The Terrafugia has just completed a first flight between two airports of 35 minutes duration.

https://www.risingkashmir.com/Flyin...tory--completes-first-inter-city-flight-69397

In the text below we find the information that:
"In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration recently granted Terrafugia's roadable airplane a special certificate in the light sport category (S-LSA), making it legal for flight."
https://www.engadget.com/aircar-first-inter-city-flight-092852060.html

It seems they have solved all technical problems so let's keep our fingers crossed they also clear all bureaucratic hurdles to obtain air and road certification!

That's not Terrafugia

smiles,
Charles

 

[okikuma]

As an automobile, the vehicle will need to meet the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) safety regulations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards, and the more strict State of California emissions standards to be able to be licensed in all 50 states.

Wayne

 

[C. Beaty]

Molt Taylor reincarnated?

Molt Taylor at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[C. Beaty]

https://www.makesthatdidntmakeit.com/aerocar

 

[loftus]

Still waiting on a design that could compete commercially and practically at each level with existing aircraft and existing automobile designs. Too many compromises have to be made. Even seaplanes are a poor substitute for a good boat for the same reason.

 

[Hydro Pilot]

Every flying car I've seen needs an airport for takeoff and an airport for landing. What are the odds of commuters having those near their source and destination AND allow you to drive on and off the runways? What scares me though is the way the FAA tends to bend with public opinion over safety as they have done with things like drone delivery. I can forsee the day when you won't need a pilot license for a flying car much like you don't need a license to drive a boat. Just buy and fly.

 

[chrisk]

Every flying car I've seen needs an airport for takeoff and an airport for landing. What are the odds of commuters having those near their source and destination AND allow you to drive on and off the runways? What scares me though is the way the FAA tends to bend with public opinion over safety as they have done with things like drone delivery. I can forsee the day when you won't need a pilot license for a flying car much like you don't need a license to drive a boat. Just buy and fly.

A flying car solves the last mile problem. That said, I'd be afraid of door dings.

 

[WaspAir]

I'd rather have an AmphiCar.

 

[Tyger]

Amphicars are pretty cool. But they weren't made for very long.
I love the stories of owners driving them down a boat ramp while folks were screaming at them to STOP!!
Then there are the one-offs

 

[Doug Riley]

Like crossing a violin with a jackhammer. The two devices (car and airplane) have such wildly different needs that the inevitable compromises cut very deeply.

A car must be robust enough to protect the occupants in crashes. Cars operate very close together, with frequent hard stops and speed changes, sharp turns and closing speeds of 140 mph or better (2 x 70 mph). A featherweight car doesn't stand a snowball's chance in a collision with a 3-ton SUV, such as those driven by millions of soccer moms and dads.

Aircraft, frankly, have barely any crash protection compared to cars. They can't afford the weight. They don't -- and don't need to -- corner or stop very well. Their suspensions and steering mechanisms are primitive compared even to the simplest car. Which is fine for the little surface operation they need to do.

George Carlin asked us to recall how stupid the average guy is, and then to consider the fact that half of the population is stupider than that. A bit harsh, maybe, but the level of competence I see on the road is scary enough without giving these same people airplanes.

Perhaps the price will limit the number of these hybrids out there.

 

[Brian Jackson]

Like crossing a violin with a jackhammer.

Nicely put, but wasn't Ernie & Degraw's LFINO the result of crossing an elephant with a rhino? Was a pretty sweet ride too.

 

[Doug Riley]

Pachyderms is pachyderms.

 

[Resasi]

Thick hides and all.

 

[loftus]

Every flying car I've seen needs an airport for takeoff and an airport for landing. What are the odds of commuters having those near their source and destination AND allow you to drive on and off the runways? What scares me though is the way the FAA tends to bend with public opinion over safety as they have done with things like drone delivery. I can forsee the day when you won't need a pilot license for a flying car much like you don't need a license to drive a boat. Just buy and fly.

For all the same reasons already mentioned, the only flying and land based machine that could make any sense is some type of VTOL / multicopter design that could transport the occupants from landing spot to landing spot with very limited need for actual land based travel. This way one could eliminate the need for separate drive trains etc, and at most simple rotation of some type of ducted fan could take care of both ground and air needs. Also fully autonomous to eliminate the pilot /driver skill factor. With enough imagination one could conceive of such a Jetsons method of transportation in the future, if battery and charging technology ever allow it.

 

[eutrophicated1]

2 jump-start gyrocopters got there first. Cartercopter was first. And all the governmental certifications don't mean diddly. Another one out of Grand Rapids, Michigan was second; and it flew 500 miles round trip to the Indiana annual airshow at Mentone. It could also do plenty of road miles, if the builder/owner ever cared to. He didn't. Moreover, we can't afford the interstate highway system as it is now. Its all deficit spending. It would be far cheaper to complete all the federal spending on nationalizing automated digital airtraffic control systems. It's totally obvious that it's cheaper to travel (as the crow flies) than to circumnavigate every city larger than 50,000 people with 6 to 10 lanes of concrete.

 

[digbar]

FYI, the national highway system is built with already-collected gas-tax money. The deficit financing goes to tax breaks for the already wealthy (see Trump/GOP recently) and the bloated war department budget.

Dick DeGraw's machine is a great work of engineering, and should be patented and built on a mass scale.

 

[Vance]

2 jump-start gyrocopters got there first. Cartercopter was first. And all the governmental certifications don't mean diddly. Another one out of Grand Rapids, Michigan was second; and it flew 500 miles round trip to the Indiana annual airshow at Mentone. It could also do plenty of road miles, if the builder/owner ever cared to. He didn't. Moreover, we can't afford the interstate highway system as it is now. Its all deficit spending. It would be far cheaper to complete all the federal spending on nationalizing automated digital airtraffic control systems. It's totally obvious that it's cheaper to travel (as the crow flies) than to circumnavigate every city larger than 50,000 people with 6 to 10 lanes of concrete.

Kellett XO-60

www.si.edu

The Kellett XO -60 had jump takeoff in 1943 and they were not the first.

 

[loftus]

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www.liftaircraft.com

 

[Tyger]

I believe the War Department went away in 1947...