We actually have flying cars . . .

dillo2k10

I couldn't find a tread about this so if there is one free to delete.

I just seen this on Sky News. They will be commercially selling a flying car by the end of next year. It looks weird and I could't imagine it being road legal.

http://www.terrafugia.com/

Imagine trying to take of on a Road in Ireland, and the speed that you would need to reach to get it flying would be speeding.

What y'all think?

mickdw

You have to drive it to an airport then fly it, not just take off down the road and lift off. No doubt, you would also require a pilots licence so its not really all that useful in my opinion.
I would much prefer to drive a proper car that is very good at being a car and only a car and have a light airplane parked at an airfield.

unkel

What's the list price - can't find it on the site

This concept has come up many times over the last 3 or 4 decades. I guess affordability / legal / license / insurance issues will be more important than that the yoke can actually fly & drive

Tallon

Looks Ridiculous!

Gulliver

Meh. The Aerocar was built in 1949.

YouTookMyName

Roads??.......

Merch

As a car it looks crap, as a plane, somewhat ridiculous
what if you hit a huge pothole, or someone vandalised it in someway, would you be happy taking it for a flight,
Interesting, but until vtol cars are available, which is not going to happen then I dont think this is gonna get off the ground, so to speak

Do we even have a stretch of road long enough for take off that is pothole free?

Hate to see the VRT/Tax/Insurance price on that thing here :eek:

Merch

Insurance maybe, I'd be concerned about bad driving than potholes :0

tallaghtmick

Would rather have this.......

Ardennes1944

id say it handles better than a 911 too

Some laugh seeing that on Traffic Blues being used as a getaway car/plane

B00MSTICK

I don't see this taking off...

SilverBell

Its not intended to take off from roads. As for vandalism....if any plane was vandalised...would it be OK for flight??:) Probably not.
For a VFR (visual flight rules) pilot doing cross country flights, this could be a real seller. Any nasty enroute weather can be avoided by landing and driving. They're talking about fitting a parachute to it aswell. The buyer would need to be rich to afford one, but in the States these guys exist and lots of folk have Cessnas and Pipers. General aviation facilities are much more developed there than here too.

The development of his yoke has been tracked with interest in the aviation community this last few years. So far the developers have been doing a good job of satisfying the US road and aviation regulatory bodies. They must be doing something right. If final certification goes well, this yoke will be on sale in a year or two... will there be enought demand for it then? Time will tell.

markoire

Whatever about prosecuting people for driving close to trucks to avoid tolls, they wont be able to do a thing about this!

Gulliver

Can you imagine if the Moller Skycar actually worked? How long before we see one with go-faster stripes, carbon fibre mirror covers, alloy engine-intake trim and Kenwood stickers on it? Also the tail needs a spoiler attached to the top.

Beta Ray Bill

unkel wrote: »

What's the list price - can't find it on the site

This concept has come up many times over the last 3 or 4 decades. I guess affordability / legal / license / insurance issues will be more important than that the yoke can actually fly & drive

US$194,000

http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/03/18/terrafugia-achieves-maiden-flight-live-blogging-from-the-boston-museum-of-science/

SilverBell

I think most people here seem to regard it as a car that flies,
its really a plane that drives. So you already have the license, training, money to buy and run one etc.