Personal SUV of the Sky

BoomZilla writes "While we're all waiting for the personal jet packs we were promised in the magazines of our youth, another 'personal flying car' has entered the fray. The Taero 4000 will exist in the car/plane category, but will require a pilot's license and will operate from airports (...no lifting off from the back yard). The Taero has an interesting folding wing concept: '[the] wing fold system will enable automatic transformation from air to land travel with the wings folding to a position parallel with the fuselage'. The target base price for the Taero 4000, in assembly kit form, is $400,000 U.S. dollars (does not include assembly[!] or optional extras). According to the site, 'Taero is scheduled for first delivery in 2007'. The FAQ makes interesting reading. Competition for Moller International's SkyCar?"

Comments

No taking off from your backyard unless

[doormat]

you live in a fly-in community. Where people have aircraft hangars as a part of their houses, and a 3500 ft runway is their door to the world.

General aviation

[wowbagger]

At this time, general aviation aircraft do not have to file a flight plan - just stay out of certain volumes of the sky. I have a friend who has a hangar attached to his garage, and a runway out back.

Just last weekend the weather was unusually nice, and he said "Let's get Mr. Cessna's aluminum kite out" - so we hopped in the 182 and took off - buzzed another friend's farm, flew around, practiced stalling, and so on.

We just had to make sure we stayed out from the airbase's airspace.

So, this would be little different than owning a Cessna in that regard.

However, unlike a car, an aircraft has to go in once a year for its annual inspection, where they tear the thing down and make sure all is well. I would assume that this thing would be no different.

So the question is, can you do without your car for a couple of weeks of the year?

I find SkyRider's approach much more interesting..

[jcr]

VTOL, robotic piloting with GPS, fly point-to-point, etc.

The thing that convinced me that they're on to something is that they drive the fans electrically from an inboard generator.

That saves the horifically complicated transmission that something like the Moller SkyCar needs to make all the engines drive all the fans.

http://www.macroindustries.com/website/files/sky ri der/sr-index.htm