Where Are the Flying Cars?

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Complaints of the non-existence of flying cars as expressions of disappointment in the failure of the present to measure up to the glory of past predictions have long been a staple of popular culture but all that is about to change when Terrafugia introduces their $148,000 "Transition," a 19-foot, two-seater that the company describes as a roadable light-sport aircraft. The problem is that the U.S. doesn't have the infrastructure in place to make landing in front of your house a viable alternative yet and a sky filled with people who don't have pilot's licenses could also be a problem. The idea is to take advantage of the 6,000 public airports in the U.S. so a pilot can fly into a small airport (video) and instead of getting a rental car, just fold up the wings on the aircraft and drive away. Terrafugia expects the first production model to be ready in 2009 and says they've already received advanced orders for 30 to 50 Transitions."

Comments

Not new

[Bombula]

The idea of a roadable fixed-wing aircraft is just about as old as flight itself. I've seen black and white film clips of these sorts of things driving down urban streets, to give you an idea of how long the notion has been around. For whatever reason, it just hasn't ever caught on.

The Moller skycar is a little more revolutionary, since it takes off and lands vertically, and since it has multiple engines - how many of these Transitions are going to be crashed by celebrities when the one engine conks out? But Moller's stuff has been vaporware for twenty years, so don't hold your breath.

Moller's skycar is a sham

[Cid Highwind]

Moller's problem is Moller, not America.

He's had the skycar in development for 30 years, as you say, and in that time it's made one unmanned tethered flight. One. Fucking. Flight.

It's a failure, time to move on.