The car, which was developed by the Terrafugia company founded by aeronautical engineers who graduated from MIT, will not be able to take off just like that from the middle of the freeway but from an airport. It will be able to reach a speed of about 190 km/h in the air
Update 17/7/2011 – The land transport authority also gave a license to the flying car of Trafugia. The company offers it for 250 thousand dollars per unit
The American Aviation Authority has given the green light to the world's first flying car developed in Massachusetts - "Terrafugia Transition" produced by the startup company Arfugia.
Richard Gersh, vice president of business development at the Tarrafugia company from Webron, Massachusetts, said that the Tarrafugia Transition can fly at a speed of 120 miles per hour (about 190 km/h) and the price to the consumer will be slightly less than 200 thousand dollars.
"You can keep her at home, drive her to the nearest airport. In about 20 seconds, the vehicle will transform itself using electrical systems from car mode to airplane mode," Gersh said. According to him, the flying car meets all the standards required for a car when it is on the ground and in the air it meets all the requirements of an airplane.
The reason why you can't take off from a place other than an airport is regulators, so the dream of flying out of the traffic jams and hovering in the air above the stuck cars is still a fantasy.
Flying in the flying car requires a license to fly a light plane, which will make it accessible because flying in such planes requires less cumulative time until obtaining the license. It runs on unleaded regular fuel, as opposed to jet fuel, which still contains lead.
Founded in 2006 by aeronautical engineers from MIT, the company plans to open a mass production plant in Dayton, Ohio.
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For those who don't know (and Kashkush is apparently one of them) the meaning is that this tool requires a license for sports aviation (LSA) as opposed to a license for GA - General aviation. This license is the definition of a new, simpler pilot's license, which allows, for example, anyone who holds a driver's license (in terms of health) to issue a pilot's license for airplanes with limited flight characteristics (for example - non-folding wheels and a propeller without variable pitch).
Follow the flying mule? http://www.urbanaero.com/Urban_Main.htm
In general, as soon as you are a few meters above the ground, you are at a certain safety risk. I don't see the possibility of a personal aircraft for the masses coming to fruition unless there are very, very reliable safety systems or "simply" automatic flight systems. Otherwise it will always require a very skilled person to fly the instrument. There are already paragliders with an electric motor that are an interesting prototype for a personal aircraft, they lack range (battery limitations) and they lack a parachute with an elaborate and faster folding mechanism (perhaps in the future, with advanced materials) that would allow a person to take off from his house, fly to the shopping center The next to land in the parking lot, fold the parachute within a minute, leave the engine in the parking lot and go shopping...
I believe more in the introduction of autonomy to the regular vehicle and communication systems between the vehicles themselves and between them and the environment to optimize traffic on the roads.
In the 60s such cars were already built, it was simply not practical
Even models with a vertical mirror were built in the nineties
Jonathan - there were airplane cars even 60 years ago. There were a few models here and there - not that they sold any, but they worked and were published in the newspapers.
To respondents 3 and 4 - you are confused.
You probably meant the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the sixties.
At the moment it looks more like a small plane with better wheels and folding wings that can also be used as a very strange car than a "car that can fly".
In general, this section of the folding wings is bad and cumbersome. I hope it's a prototype and then they make it so that the wings come out of the car like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSdlDkfVCOE&NR=1
And change the design.
It was even in the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, from the 70s
"Teraphobia"? Fear of the earth for those who didn't understand :)
For respondent 3 in the XNUMXs, several car planes were built and they failed miserably, the reasons: the wasted time getting to the airport and disassembling the wings and tail, the need for a pilot's license, the high price of the car plane, and it seems that these problems have not been resolved.
Maybe I'm wrong but I remember that there was such a thing, a flying car whose wings could be assembled and disassembled and they made a few of them. So it's not the first.
And in any case, it's a nice idea, the question is whether its advantages are good enough to be an economic lever for this type of industry, or for the time being it will remain an interesting experiment for something whose time has not yet come.
I didn't understand, what is the difference between this and just a light plane? Sounds like just a stupid gimmick to me.
As soon as the mirror is vertical, they can name me with the buyers.