Pentagon Clears Flying-Car Project For Takeoff

unassimilatible writes "DARPA has announced a 'Personal Air Vehicle Technology' project. It will 'ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car — a two- or four-passenger vehicle that can "drive on roads" one minute and take off like a helicopter the next. The hybrid machine would be perfect for "urban scouting," casualty evacuation and commando-delivery missions, the agency believes.' Wired has the summary of the project." Maybe they'll take inspiration from Terrafugia's "drivable airplane."

Comments

Where's my jetpack?

[Anonymous Coward]

This reminds me of a book I was flipping through earlier this evening at a local bookstore, Daniel Wilson's Where's My Jetpack? , a "A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived". Popular Mechanics has been promising that a flying car is right around the corner for half a century now. It's not here, and I've given up all hope.

Will 80 mph do?

[jmichaelg]

Here's a real flying car. At 80mph, it doesn't have the airspeed that DARPA is looking for but it does hit all the other check items and supposedly it's easy to fly.

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[timeOday]

The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground.

Apparently not:

"The fan's static when you're driving around," says Cardozo. "The engineering challenge was getting a really reliable system that will switch power between wheels or fan."

That is by far the coolest flying car I've ever seen. It takes off at only 35 MPH, would be relatively cheap, and looks like it would have great off-road mobility in car mode. Only problem is I couldn't find it on youtube, so I hope it's in the new Bond movie :)

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[MichaelSmith]

The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground.

From the times article:

âoeThe fan's static when you're driving around,â says Cardozo. âoeThe engineering challenge was getting a really reliable system that will switch power between wheels or fan.â

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[HTH NE1]

It's interesting that nobody thought of this (a parawing car) before

I'm surprised he's not also adapting it to airboats as used in Florida and Louisiana. Though I guess he gets more press coverage for "flying car" than "sea plane".

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[narcberry]

Hard to evacuate soldiers in a one-person dune buggy that needs to take off horizontally with a 'shute that tangles on street rubble and powerlines.

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[narcberry]

Oh, but I still want one.

Re:Will 80 mph do?

[mcrbids]

Except that you won't catch me flying a para-car, the disadvantages are many.

PLUS:
~) it's cheap; fairly easy to implement.

MINUS:
~) Parawings have a tendency to fold when you turn too sharply.
~) It does poorly in windy conditions.
~) Slow, inefficient, high drag.
~) Tendency to "rip".
~) Takeoff is difficult.
~) An in-flight rainstorm is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, by definition.
~) Poor handling in engine-out / emergency circumstances.

I'll pass, thanks! Even as a VFR pilot, I've flown in rain many times, and at 150 MPH, it happens surprisingly quickly... I can only imagine what the power-fail glide slope is on something like this. (7:1 for a Piston Cessna, as high as 20:1 for jets, often as poor as 2:1 for an ultralight/paraglider - you sink like a STONE when the power goes out!)

Re:Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's amazing what weirdo's with a bunch of money can do http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules
This one will probably turn out to be as useful but at least someone is trying!!! Too bad it's with my money this time.

Re:Auto Industry Bailout

[jlarocco]

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that bailing out the auto-industry is a really stupid idea. Granted, that didn't stop them from being gung-ho about the Wall St. bailout, but at least they're limiting their stupidity a little bit. Just because they fucked up in one case doesn't mean we should throw up our arms and insist they be stupid all around.

But if you have a good reason why the auto industry should be able to take my money without earning it, I'd love to hear it.

Even the "They provide jobs" argument is ridiculous, because they provide jobs building products nobody wants to buy.

Also funny how it's the Democrats pushing for the auto bailout, but its the Republicans who are always accused of being in cahoots with corporations.

its almost 2009

[nurb432]

Where is my flying.. errr. ummm..

Oooo shiny object to the left.

Re: How far does it have to fly?

[Anonymous Coward]

With enough explosives altitude won't be a problem but distance and landing may be an issue.

George: If we do happen to step on a mine, Sir, what do we do?
Edmund: Normal procedure, Lieutenant, is to jump 200 feet in the air and scatter oneself over a wide area.

Flat screens, too...

[Ungrounded Lightning]

I've been reading since the early '50s about the imminent personal flying craft and similar wonders in such august publications as PopSci, Popular Mechanics, etc. I grow weary.

Yeah.

But I've also been reading about flat TV screens for as long, too. (They had a cute one back then: Neon switches, crosspoint matrix, electroluminescent elements at the crosspoints for scan, then transparent conductor, opaque light-controlled-resistor, and another layer of electroluminescent matterial for the screen light source. Plastic "circuit board" so you could wrap it around a pencil.)

It took 'em half a century to get (several types of) TV quality flat screens. And they're all STILL more expensive than CRTs. (Maybe now that the LCD price fixing conspiracy is broken that will FINALLY change.)

Ditto "dynabook". Ditto microscopic robots - some circulating in the blood stream - for microsurgery and/or immune system assist against diseases. Ditto cloned replacement teeth. Ditto age-retarding-or-reversing drugs.

A lot of stuff is FINALLY STARTING to happen. But I've been waiting a LONG time for it. And at this rate maybe I'll get to see prototypes of some of it by the time I retire, but still won't get the benefit of playing with the toys. B-(

Re:Terrafugia? I don't think so.

[wjsteele]

Drag your wings behind you??? Have you even looked at their prototype?

Before you start making stupid comments, check your facts. The Terrafugia folds it's wings vertically. They are folded electrically, so you don't have to even get out of the car. In fact, you land at an airport and before you even get off the taxi-way, the wings are folded.

BTW... I just chatted with Carl the other day and they are getting ready to start flight testing. They're just waiting for their final signoff for their airworthy certificate. They've have driven it up to 70 mph so far.

Bill

Not getting my hopes up

[Thirdsin]

If they still can't produce a practical jetpack with extended flying time, i see this... not taking off!

Re:No one on Moller yet?

[Egotistical Rant]

I remember reading about Moller's Skycar in Popular Science when I was a kid...about 30 years ago. It's a pretty well-documented fraud now.