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Flying Car More Economical Than SUV

Posted by michael on from the runs-on-vapor dept.

fusion812 writes "The M400 needs 35 clear feet to take off but thanks to its 770 hp engine can whiz to 365 mph - cruise control kicks in at 326 mph - and climb at 6,400 feet per minute. You may hear it before you see it: it emits a rather noisy 65 dba at 500 feet. Interestingly, with a fuel consumption of 20 miles to the gallon on the road, it's rather more economical than a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and looks positively eco-friendly compared to a Hummer."

4 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. That may be so... by acehole · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But the cost of the flying car would be significantly more than an SUV.

    What of the costs for learning how to drive/fly one of these things?

    I'm not really looking forward to the time where people who run out of gas/petrol simply fall out of the sky to their deaths and those on the ground.

    Would you let a cletus like character behind the wheel of one of these things?

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    1. Re:That may be so... by dildatron · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Did you know that "cletus like" characters are often better at driving than geeks like you? These are people that drive tractors, tractor trailers, dump trucks, etc. And can probably fix a whole lot more than you when things go wrong. Suck of this geek supremicist bullshit. You are not better than everyone at everything. You are better at a small subset of things.

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  2. And for the non-americans in here by Mr.+Marabou+Man · · Score: 5, Interesting


    20 (miles / US gallon) = 8.50287411 kilometers per liter

  3. Sport Pilots License by Sergeant+Beavis · · Score: 3, Interesting
    While I find the M400 very interesting, I think the future of aviation will be affected to a much greater degree by the proposed regulations for pilot licensing.

    The FAA has proposed new rule for what will be called a Sport Pilots License. The rules should be approved this summer and it will make it much easier for anyone to become a pilot. For one, you won't have to take an expensive physical any longer.

    However, there are a lot of restrictions on someone with an SPL. You can't fly an aircraft that has a gross takeoff weight higher than 1232lbs. You can only fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions and you cannot fly any faster than 132MPH.

    Because flight training takes place in the less expensive Light Sport Aircraft class (LSA) flight training should be less expensive. Also, a prospective SPL student only needs to fly 20 hours to get their license. Normally, you have to fly at least 40 hours.

    Personally, I can't wait.

    If you want to learn more about it, goto www.sportpilot.org

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