What seemed to be yet another fantasy flying vehicle may have moved closer to reality this week when a test version of the three-wheeler PAL-V One took off publicly in Holland.
Accelerating just some 500 feet along the A1 highway near the city of Amersfoort, the three-wheeler took off easily in front of the Dutch Minister of Traffic Safety and Water Affairs, Camiel Eurlings, and a massive group of curious journalists.
The test version of the PAL-V One three-wheeler that took off in Holland didn't look quite like this mockup provided by the company.
(Credit: PAL-V Europe)According to the Digital Journal, many had hoped to see a real prototype of the flying-and-driving vehicle, which is aimed at consumers. What actually took off was a proof-of-concept vehicle, to show that the tiny three-wheeler could both drive and fly for real, which it apparently could.
On the other hand, as the autogyro technology it's based on was invented in 1919 by the Spaniard Juan de la Cierva, and flew for the first time in 1923, this was no hugely sensational news. Minister Eurlings, whose ministry is involved in the project, also said that despite some people's hopes, the vehicle would not be a solution to traffic congestion, but a possible alternative to helicopters for emergency services.
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It may look like a Volkswagen Beetle in the belly of a carp, but the Terrafugia Transition (at right) is a bona fide flying car.
(Credit: Terrafugia)This story has been updated. See below for details.
The start-up Terrafugia first popped up on our radar screens in early 2006 with a one-fifth scale model, $30,000 in prize money, and an urge to build a car that could fly. Or is that an airplane you can take on the highway?
Some signs point strongly to the latter. Terrafugia describes its Transition vehicle as a "roadable aircraft" and is pitching it in part as giving private pilots an easy travel alternative when bad weather makes flying a bad idea, or simply to avoid having to take a separate car to the airport. Also, in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Administration, the vehicle falls into the light sport aircraft category.
On March 5, Terrafugia got to show that--whatever the eventual business prospects--the Transition can indeed fly. The maiden voyage (the duration wasn't specified) took place at the Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, with a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel in the pilot's seat. The flight followed six months of static, road, and taxi testing.
As a car, the two-seat Transition is designed to be easy on garages and oncoming traffic--its wings fold up quite snugly. In folded mode, the approximately 19-foot-long vehicle is 80 inches wide, and 6 feet, 9 inches high. As an airplane, it stands a few inches shorter and has a wingspan of 27 feet, 6 inches.
The vehicle runs off unleaded fuel from your run-of-the-mill gas station for both terrestrial and aerial travel, cruising at highway speeds on land and better than 115 miles per hour in the air.
But Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia (Latin for "escape from land") still has a long road ahead of it. The vehicle that flew earlier this month is still just a proof of concept, and a production prototype has yet to be built, tested, and certified. The company says it expects to make the first customer delivery of a Transition in 2011.
Update March 20, 9:41 a.m. PDT: Terrafugia CEO/CTO Carl Dietrich rolled out the Transition for an appearance on the CBS Early Show. He said that the price tag for the carbon fiber-built vehicle is $194,000, and that the (refundable) deposit is $10,000.
In the video below, you can get a look at the controls inside the cockpit--er, at the driver's seat?--and watch the wings unfold.
News.com Poll
For some reason, the last couple of months have seen us covering a number of flying cars. It's 2009 and about time they started rolling out, isn't it?
We've got a couple of futuristic concepts, one made from a Ferrari, one that's gearing up for production, and a relic from a utopian past.
I know which one I want, but this isn't about me. Cravers, which flying car do you want to own in the next five years?
Two British adventurers are about to head off on a 3,600-mile maiden voyage that could well give new life to the phrase "from here to Timbuktu." They'll be traveling alternately by land and sea in what they're calling the "world's first bio-fueled flying car"--the Parajet Skycar, which is essentially a dune buggy with a fan motor and paragliding wing attached.
Pilot Neil Laughton plans to leave from London Wednesday and journey through France, Spain, Morocco, the Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, returning home via Senegal. Joining him for part of the journey will be engineer Gilo Cardozo, who created the two-seat, road-legal vehicle. The Skycar will be accompanied by a team of overland adventurers in all-terrain vehicles carrying fuel and supplies.
Have a look at the gallery below for more details on this crazy car, which has a take-off speed of 60 mph, and in flying mode, supposedly can hit a cruising altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 feet and a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet.
(Credit:
eBay Motors)
It's no Ferrari, but an original 1956 Aerocar--the first flying car to be deemed street-legal in the U.S.--is listed for sale on eBay. And it's only $3.5 million--if you use "buy it now."
It's presumably in good shape, with the auction stating that its engine was inspected a couple of years ago, but if you plan on flying this car anywhere I'd recommend a tune-up first--the engine hasn't been officially inspected since 1976.
Of course, for that money you could buy a top-of-the-line personal jet as well as a rare super car, but that wouldn't be nearly as neat as this thing. I want it.
(Credit:
Matt Hickey )
The calendar rolled over to 2000 eight years ago, though it doesn't seem like it's been that long. We had many jokes then about moving into the future, the most tapped being those of flying cars and jet packs.
Personal transportation in the air hasn't taken off yet (if you'll forgive the pun), but it's about to, at least if Moller International has anything to say about it.According to the Telegraph, the "air car" company known for the Moller Air Car has taken a Ferrari 599 GTB and made it airworthy, giving it Back To The Future-like hovering abilities for vertical take-off and landings, as well as wings and stabilizers for forward flight.
Not only that, the machine runs green with a hybrid engine that can propel the vehicle forward at an expected 150 mph. While Moller predicts it could have production vehicles ready within two years at about $800,000, we're still skeptical. Having seen how most people drive on the ground, is it smart to let them go into the air?
The Milner Motors AirCar carries two occupants on the road or in the air.
(Credit: CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)At long last, a promise made in the 1950s is kept: we now have a flying car. Well, sort of. Milner Motors showed off a non-flying but driveable prototype of its AirCar at the 2008 New York auto show. As a plane, the AirCar has a 28-foot wingspan and can cruise at 200 mph for 1,000 miles. It is pushed by two rear-facing ducted fans powered by two rotary engines. That's the plan, anyway, as the fans on the prototype are only mock-ups. For the driving portion, each wing folds on two hinges over the top of the AirCar, reducing the width to 7 feet. The AirCar is fitted with a 40-horsepower engine that drives it on the ground at speeds up to 85 mph, although we have to assume that it will take you awhile to get up to that speed. The cabin of the AirCar carries two occupants, and its flying weight is a maximum 3,000 pounds.
Two ducted fans, fake on the prototype, power the AirCar.
(Credit: CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)
(Credit:
Moller)
Here's one that's been making the rounds recently--well, actually, anything remotely pertaining to a "flying car" seems to get a nod on every tech blog within a week. (Hmm, I wonder why?) This one, the Moller M200G, actually seems more along the lines of a personal flying saucer. Allegedly, it's actually in development and will sell for a paltry $125K. You'll be able to zip around about 10 feet off the ground at a speed of 50 miles per hour. (No, eco-geeks, I don't know what the mileage or emissions stats are.) And here's the best part, which I'll leave in the brilliant words of Gizmodo's Adrian Covert: "Because the M200G is classified as a recreation device and not an aircraft, it is not subject to FAA regulations and anybody can operate one."
You hear that? Anybody can operate one! Yes, the example of the Segway has taught us that local governments will probably just ban them anyway (those spoil-sports!) but that stuff's all bureaucratic and such, so if you snap one up quickly, you'll probably have a few months to do the following:
5. Give yourself an aerial tour of the Googleplex. Actually, you probably won't be the only one in a flying saucer around there.
4. Fulfill your corny sci-fi movie fantasy by flying one through a meadow of cows to see what happens.
3. Forget Halloween costumes. This can be, like, a Halloween vehicle. Plus, it might freak out the neighbors enough so that they'd give you extra candy.
2. Let's just say you'll never lose another water balloon fight now.
1. Paint Hello Kitty on the underside. Just do it. Crave mogul Mike Yamamoto will thank you later.
(Via BornRich)
The Hyfish is a model jet that's powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
(Credit: Team Smartfish)Well, it's really a jet. And, it's only a model. But the Hyfish is a model prototype for a real two-person jet aircraft. This particular prototype uses an electric jet motor that gets its juice from a hydrogen fuel cell and was successfully flown in Bern, Switzerland. The Hyfish prototype was developed by a consortium of public and private entities, with the base aircraft built by Team Smartfish and the hydrogen fuel cell system provided by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. Team Smartfish is a Swiss company working on a new type of jet aircraft, called Smartfish, which could be produced for applications as small as an unmanned aircraft or as large as a business jet. The Hyfish prototype may be more of a publicity stunt, as the published specifications for the Smartfish don't say what type of power plant it will use, just that it needs to produce 900 to 1,000 pound of thrust.
Boeing develops a more realistic fuel-cell airplane for personal transport.
(Credit: Boeing)However, Boeing is developing a hydrogen fuel-cell small airplane that's supposed to be flight-tested in Spain later this year. The awkwardly named Boeing Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane uses a conventional prop turned by an electric motor. Its power system uses lightweight lithium ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. The Boeing Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane is designed to cruise at 62mph. The company doesn't envision hydrogen fuel cells powering commercial passenger aircraft but sees it as a possibility for small manned aircraft. May we suggest a flying car?
(Credit:
SmartFish)
I won't even bother making the requisite jokes about how it's well past 2000 and we should all be behind the wheels of flying cars by now--that humor is so 2006. But I'm really digging the design of the SmartFish, a Swiss prototype for a hydrogen fuel-cell mini-aircraft that will optimally be more efficient than a car and will be able to travel at 560 miles per hour. Ooh, speedy. It'll be about 20 feet long and will hold two people, though the designers hope to work on a 20-seater version yet. (Perfect for your kid's soccer team.)
Sure, it's yet another flying car design, and we all know those have quite a few hurdles to clear before they can come to fruition, but the SmartFish is just sexy. Maybe being gorgeous will mean it gets put on the fast-track to production, you know, the same kind of rationale that lets supermodels jump the velvet-rope line at nightclubs.
(Via Gizmodo)
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