flying car unveiled

padma

t'would be handy to get around those qashqai and jukes

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0403/flying-car.html


Flying car cleared for take off

Updated: 13:07, Tuesday, 3 April 2012
[URL="javascript:void(window.open(''+self.location+'?view=print'));"][/URL]







A US firm is said to have successfully tested a street-legal plane, or ''flying car''.

• 
  The Transition flying car (Pic: terrafugia.com)

A US firm is said to have successfully tested a street-legal plane, or ''flying car''.
Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia said their production prototype ''Transition'' car-plane had completed an eight-minute test flight, clearing the way for it to hit the market within a year.
"With this flight, the team demonstrated an ability to accomplish what had been called an impossible dream," said founder Carl Dietrich.
The two-seater craft, which has the rounded features of a Fiat 500 and collapsible wings, is on presale for $279,000 (€209,000) and some 100 vehicles have already been ordered.
The successful test flight has given hope to aficionados that this staple of science fiction is a step closer to reality.
"Is it going to be like the Jetsons with everyone driving one in five years? No," admitted Winfield Keller, vice president of The International Flying Car Association, a trade group.
"But we are getting to the point where 10, maybe 15 years from now that the people owning and operating (them) will be everyday people."
In the meantime, manufacturers hope they can build something that appeals to border security agencies, the police or the military, as well as hobbyists.
Terrafugia is targeting pilots looking for a bit more flexibility and fewer hangar fees.
Spanning 2.3 metres, it fits into a normal-sized garage, before unfurling an 8m wingspan.
The Transition, they say, offers unparalleled freedom of movement, with a range of 787km and without the need to check bags.
Would-be owners will need to have both a driver's and pilot's licence - with a minimum of 20 hours of flying time.
The craft needs 762 meters of runway for takeoff, meaning pulling onto the shoulder and escaping the traffic is not really an option.
At least two other companies are racing to bring an autoplane to the market.
Dutch company PAL-V has tested a prototype gyrocopter-style car. It hopes to now build a full production prototype and to have the first deliveries by 2014.
California-based Moller International has built a personal vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, although it requires a little more training to operate.

Nissan doctor

Have you seen the licencing requirments to actually use one of these??

padma

you may get away with road tax, but for sure they'll think of air tax. Imagine the future like this, flying cars, virtual traffic lights in the sky. Be hard to slow down and stop.

padma

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Have you seen the licencing requirments to actually use one of these??

Pilot licence with 20 hrs flight time, though surely in the future they'll be made easy to fly etc for the ordinary joe soap

Nissan doctor

padma wrote: »

Pilot licence with 20 hrs flight time, though surely in the future they'll be made easy to fly etc for the ordinary joe soap

You actually think that??

Have you not seen some of the cabbages on the roads? Imagine allowing them to fly planes!

This will never be the future.

padma

Nissan doctor wrote: »

You actually think that??

Have you not seen some of the cabbages on the roads? Imagine allowing them to fly planes!

This will never be the future.

I don't know Doc, think things like sensors, driverless pilots, a new air infrastructure (like road infrastructure)

Connavar

Irish people can't handle the three lanes of the m50, yet alone adding another dimension to it

Marty McFly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flge_rw6RG0

padma

I tell you what though, it be fierce handy to have one of the first few of these, imagine that flying over the M50 passing folk out a few metres above them. You can see the regulations, though truthfully I'd say a lot of countries would ban them at the start. Boy racers flying along on a plane a few metres above you :pac:

Nissan doctor

padma wrote: »

I tell you what though, it be fierce handy to have one of the first few of these, imagine that flying over the M50 passing folk out a few metres above them. You can see the regulations, though truthfully I'd say a lot of countries would ban them at the start. Boy racers flying along on a plane a few metres above you :pac:

Once it takes off though, its a plane, and so subjet to the exact same flight rules as every other plane.


I'd sooner have the delorean though...:D

_Kaiser_

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flge_rw6RG0

Such a great film/series (must watch it yet again)

(realises it's almost 30 years old now!! :eek:)

gyppo

T'would come in fierce handy at toll booths.

Ken.

gyppo wrote: »

T'would come in fierce handy at toll booths.

The government would probably make you stick a toll tag to the underside and every toll booth would have camera's pointed at the sky.

Cmar-Ireland

It'll never take off...















:pac:

dr.fuzzenstein

Can you imagine the insurance companies?
They already baulk at everything that isn't a Corolla or Focus or more than 5 years old.
Five million billion to insure it my guess.

Big Nasty

Sounds very 'Jetsons'

Mr Benevolent

padma wrote: »

Pilot licence with 20 hrs flight time, though surely in the future they'll be made easy to fly etc for the ordinary joe soap

It's actually about 40 hours and 6 detailed exams, plus a very thorough skill test. It's NOTHING like learning to drive. Driving is piss easy compared to flying.

Oh yeah, and one thing most people may not know - it's illegal to land on roads.