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Flying Car Flies From London To Africa
krou writes "It may not be exactly what people have envisioned or tried over the years, such as the flying car in Bladerunner, or the previously reported Terrafugia Transition, but the BBC is reporting that a flying car (creatively dubbed the Skycar, but different from this Skycar) has flown from London across into Africa. They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan with a canopy that is capable of flying a car."
Does it have to pay the London congestion charge?
A car in Spanish skies from the continent that brought you the jet powered man!
Minus the car.
"They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan with a canopy that is capable of flying a car."
WTF?
"They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan."
I'd rather have a flying car that doesn't fly me into ANY sized fan, thankyouverymuch.
What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
"They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan with a canopy that is capable of flying a car".
This thing is awesome. Watch the video, it actually frikin' flies.
It's more of a Skybuggy than a skycar.
I remember that flying car flying from London, close to King's Cross!
And it was a Ford Anglia, not a Terrafugia Whatever!
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
The vehicle flying to Africa is more a proof-of-concept than anything else, a fully functioning engineering prototype. The actual flying car model is slated to be released next year and is supposed to be a real car.
Disclaimer: I work for one of their sponsors.
But is it an European or an African flying car?
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
Parajet might be the name of the company but they modified a paramotor, not a 'parajet'(it's propeller driven, not a jet engine) and rather than a parachute (as mentioned in the BBC article) I think they mean paraglider (it is designed to fly or glide, not to fall after all).
What's all the hubub about? It's simply a paraglider that has been made large enough to carry a payload larger than a man (a car in this case). That's like saying someone who connects a blimp to a camper has invented a flying home. *shrug*
What was its unladen flight air-speed velocity?
(Both during the European and African legs).
Lol, this is a swampboat like they did "Wild Kingdom", Everglades shows with. Someone seems to have ran it up the backside of a dune buggy.
With the cab to act as a soundboard the pilot should be deaf before he crashes.But, we don't intervene, because this is natural selection and interference could change the future of these fascinating creatures.Here on the African plane, a cleanup crew of jackals then vultures will soon return whatever didn't burn to nature.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I was all ready to criticize something called a Skycar for looking too much like a mini-plane, but lo and behold, it sure does look like a car, so much so that I couldn't believe it flew even a hundred feet without plummeting from the sky, that is, until I saw the parachute contraption and wasn't quite as impressed, a thought with which I decided to conclude this run-on sentence.
They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
While it looks like it would be fun for recreational purposes, I don't think it would make very good flying transportation. Not to mention the trouble maintaining that chute is going to be.
Most of the "skycars" we've seen have looked like trade show demo vehicles - fancy, but fragile - suitable as rich toys, but not as workhorses.
This one looks practical - and it looks more than another ultralight, it looks like something that could be serviceable and mass marketable, while still being functional and durable.
But whether any of that is true, we'll have to see from independent testing. One thing I'd like to see is how it actually handles a landing without power, after an engine failure, with its parachute. Also, how it would handle the inevitable weight stresses real world use would apply, despite warnings.
Fascinating project in any case.
Ryan Fenton
The guy actually flew using his hair to Africa ;)
and Skybuggy might be more apt...
forget flying car, I want to be able to regrow a head of hair like that guy.
...but at least *their* Skycar isn't slashdotted...
..."and after rigorous testing will travel from London across the Sahara to Tombouctou for the maiden voyage in Spring 2009."
Hasn't happened yet.
Death and Taxes...
The concept looks cool.Just driving it in traffic would be a show stopper. The fact page on this aircraft/car doesn't show certain things, like "Take Off Distance", Red Line, Yellow Line, Stall, Octane stuff, and um, the ceiling at 15K? With an open Cock Pit? The car looks like a Tube Frame Sand Buggy, nice. I didn't know that Rotax had a automotive transmission for their power plants, interesting. I also have a couple questions like, "IFR Capable?" Or is this just only a "VFR" kind of car? I didn't see the word "Experimental" on side of car; why? The "why" reason could be a very cool price worthy answer.
The SkyCar site's news page is still up for the moment:
http://www.skycarexpedition.com/news.php
Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
as someone who was heavily involved in collegiate competition similar to this effort, i have to say that this achievement seems like something that could be done by any college team with suitable funding and motivation. the science for controlling a powered paraglider is decades old, so this doesn't strike me as a breakthrough. what would impress me is some sort of system for mechanically deploying the lifting surface, like the top of a convertible car. without such an innovation, this vehicle would never be able to go anywhere near an urban center, given the power lines and other obstacles it would certainly encounter. to me, this represents a small, but measurable step toward an affordable flight-capable commercial vehicle for the average consumer. still, there remain many unanswered questions.
Death, Taxes and Death Taxes.
Given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.
Karma: Non-Heinous
... engineers have managed to build a diving car by strapping a weight to a sand buggy. The diving car is expected to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench later this evening.
Ok...did it fly to Morocco (impressive), or South Africa (really, really impressive)? Africa isn't a country Ms Palin.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
"That's like saying someone who connects a blimp to a camper has invented a flying home."
I'd buy one of those!
Airstream meets Gulfstream.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
"Into Africa" suggests a less than perfect landing, "across Africa" implies a much longer trip. I'm not sure how you do both.
Doing both is simple - the fan chopped him up and spread his remains into and across Africa. That also explains the 'less than perfect' landing!
TFA: "They modified a parajet fan that can fly a man into a bigger fan"
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
or it didn't happen
Strapping a buggy to a rocket and fly it to the moon?
Oh, wait...
Yeah, flying cars and fusion, just around the corner. I am 53 and have been reading about some flying car or other my whole life, longer if you count the old Popular Mechanics magazines from the 40's and 50's I found in my grandad's attic. It's a stupid friggin concept anyway. The worst thing that could ever happen is that someone develops a "practical" flying car. I can barely cross the street now, if I have to add "look up" to my "look left, look right" algorithm I think I'll just stay in my compound. When are people going to accept the fact that personal internal combustion engines are unsustainable from both an environmental and practical POV? Please note that the "cheap" (no it isn't) gas that we are using now is a product of the recession.
What happens in this thing if the engine conks out? Since it's a paraglider, doesn't it need forward motion to maintain the airfoil shape?
According to the video below they have a Yamaha R1 motorcycle engine in that thing. Very cool, where's my flying motorcycle?!
http://www.skycarexpedition.com/the_expedition.php
I'll believe it when we have a flying car! ... OH WAIT
This is brilliant because it's simple. People have dreamed and worked on flying cars for ages. And failed. They could not figure a way around the trade-offs. Make it too much like a plane and it's hard to get the wings away for driving.
With a cloth wing, this is mainly a car, but if you come to something you can't drive across, or want to fly over, and the weather is good, you can fly over it.
It is not the car that takes off from your house like Moller or the Jetsons, nor a plane that only goes to airports. I think it's a very clever compromise. No reason for it to cost 50,000 pounds though, and soon it probably won't.
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Heck, I know what it's supposed to say, but even after staring at it, it refuses to refrain from sounding like a Monty Python sketch.
-FL
If this news came while Wright brothers were in progress of making their aircraft, that would have been amazing.
Just a variation on the powered parachute that has been around for quite some time.
http://www.buckeyeaviation.com/
No, seriously. That actually looks like a LOT of fun!
Buuuuuut, it also looks like a suicide machine. --I mean, ultralights are dangerous enough, but this one looks fantastically dangerous. Fixed wing aircraft still get to keep their wings in a strong wind.
But then, while pondering this 2003 U.S. Paragliding Accident Summary, (1 per 500 paragliders died in 2003) I was struck by the notion that, yeah, there are going to be some accidents, --that's the nature of tying yourself to a kite and jumping off a mountain-- BUT, this time the pilot is actually sitting inside a pretty awesome roll cage. And anyway, I bet there's at least one person dumber than me among those 499 other guys.
Sign me up!
-FL
Don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's just a Dune Buggy with a fan and a parasail. Nothing new or futuristic, sooner or later somebody was going to glue those 3 items together.
Because we all know Africa is a small town...
It could have traveled 1000km or 10000km.
It seems that there's a fine line between Funny, Flamebait, and Insightful. By 'death taxes', are you referring to deferred capital taxes?
I, for one, have been waiting for hoverboards and flying cars (Back to the Future) for a loooooooong time. Opps, I've given you my security answer, haven't I?
You think too far ahead. It's better to state the joke in a simplier form.
I like the joke though. :)
Lots of negative commentary here about the concept... but whatever.
Honestly, I can see this being incredibly useful. There are areas in Africa specifically that are almost completely inaccessible, or very hard to access easily for medical or personnel reasons. Something like this I can see being extremely useful (and probably cheaper than an helicopter) because you can take off from any reasonably flat area, land within a mile or so of your destination and then drive to your destination.
This concept takes a lot of the problems out of the equation that are involved in light aircraft (no ground transportation at your destination, needs at least a partially finished runway) or an helicopter (expensive to buy and maintain, pilot training is extremely expensive, sand in the engine is a BAD THING!). This thing could be used in these environments to improve the lot of those people.
I don't see this as being really designed for the Western world, we have great roads and cars designed for that... but we are not "the world"... we are just a small part of it that sometimes thinks we are all there is.
I love this concept... I can see so many practical uses for it... but hell, I'd love to fly one myself. :)