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It's Not a Flying Car - It's a Drivable Airplane

Posted by timothy on from the transcend-potholes dept.

waderoush writes "Aviation enthusiasts have been dreaming of flying cars since the 1940s. But in an old machine shop in Woburn, MA, a team of MIT aero/astro grads is building what could be the first practical airplane that's also certified for highway driving. Angel-funded startup Terrafugia, headed by 2006 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich, hopes to have its first full-scale proof-of-concept vehicle ready to show off at July's AirVenture aviation festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin."

4 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Certified to drive.... by CannonballHead · · Score: 5, Informative

    While the main link is apparently slashdotted, there is also this site, apparently the official Terrafugia site: http://www.terrafugia.com/vehicle.html

  2. Re:Stupid idea by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Informative
    As a recreation/part-time-for-fun pilot, I'm chiming in:

    http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/trend.html

    Fourth quarter, 2007

    The number of general aviation accidents was down slightly (2 percent) for the fourth quarter. In year-to-date comparisons, general aviation accidents saw an increase as compared to 2006 figures (6 percent).

    General Aviation Accidents

    According to the FAA, there were a total of 315 general aviation accidents in the fourth quarter of 2007 (down 2 percent from 2006). This figure is the lowest total for the fourth quarter. Accidents for the past several months showed a continued improvement of the GA safety record. Year-end comparisons show a 6-percent increase in general aviation accidents (1,607 in 2007 vs. 1,518 in 2006).

  3. Re:Stupid idea by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=29293775-85f9-4007-817c-bd65a1060dda

    ASF notes that "...Back in 1950, the total accident rate was 46.68 accidents per 100,000 flight hours (the 100,000-hour measure being the statistical standard); the fatal accident rate was 5.17 per 100,000 flight hours. Today, both those numbers have plunged dramatically--7.05 and 1.26 per 100,000 hours, respectively. Those represent 85-percent and 76-percent drops. Fifty years ago, newspapers and accident reports were replete with stories of fatal buzzing accidents, hundreds of fatal forays by VFR-only pilots into instrument weather, and scads of fatal stall-spin accidents. These sorts of accidents still plague us now, but what a difference 50 years has made."

    Emphasis mine.

  4. Re:Certified to drive.... by waderoush · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, getting slashdotted creamed our server (and we have choice words today for both our blogging platform provider and our hosting provider) but the story is back up now, we think (http://www.xconomy.com/2008/05/08/from-the-runway-to-the-road-terrafugia-redefines-the-flying-car-make-that-drivable-airplane/). Our apologies for the inconvenience. -Wade Roush, Xconomy