Terrafugia Departs Terra Firma

[beamjockey]

Terrafugia announced today that the Transition, their prototype roadable aircraft, has made seven test flights, starting on 5 March.

Wade Roush was liveblogging the press conference.

Photo Gallery on the Terrafugia site.

Tip o' the propeller blade to whl, who spotted this well before my Google News alerts did. Paul Warman and Mike Blanford took second and third place in my in-box.

Next time someone asks "Where's my flying car?" you can reply "Where's your $194000?"

Comments

[ckd]

I'm still skeptical (though I'd love to be proved wrong); it's a neat idea, but as a car it looks like it's going to have huge blind spots. (It's also not what most people consider a "flying car" inasmuch as it doesn't take off from your driveway and land in the parking lot at work.)

[scarfman]

Baby steps.

We're going to need a whole new class of traffic regulations anyway before we want people allowed to take off from their driveways.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

We're going to need a whole new class of airplanes. Right now a vehicle that controls itself entirely by pushing surfaces against the air simply can't be precisely placed or moved. They NEED a lot of room between them, and between them and anything else solid too, because they move with the air, including gusts and all sorts of funny movements.

I suspect that this will remain true for any fixed or rotary wing airplane in the current sense; there doesn't seem to be much to be done to get around its responding to air movements when the air is the only thing it's touching.

Now, if we could hold them on the end of a force beam like the Norlaminians did, that would be different.

I suppose a computer controlling powerful enough thrusters (don't even have to be reactionless) could hold it stable relative to solid obstacles across a very wide range of air movements. It'd have to have a lot of surplus horsepower, and the ability to thrust a lot of directions, and the thrust exhaust would have to not be dangerous too far out.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

(It's also not what most people consider a "flying car" inasmuch as it doesn't take off from your driveway and land in the parking lot at work.)

I am a "big tent" guy in this case, and to me, a roadable aircraft is one kind of flying car.

People who think otherwise can simply go buy a helicopter.

[seawasp]

This isn't a flying car. Unless I can fly it without knowing ANYTHING about, well, flying.

A flying car should be as easy to operate as the "flying transports" I get in video games, where I can go anywhere, land there, etc., and never have to worry about air currents, etc.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

You're not easy to please, are you?

[david-jordan.livejournal.com]

The company itself admits that it's not a flying car, the first FAQ: "Why is the Transition(R) called a roadable aircraft and not a flying car?"

It's meant to let you drive your plane home from the airport and from your destination airport to your final destination. They also tout the safety aspect of being able to land and travel by road if the weather turns south during a flight. As a pilot myself I can say that the ability to drive to your final destination is a huge thing.

As for blind spots when driving I can see cameras being a possible solution. It has a glass cockpit which means a nice video display.

You aren't ever going to have a flying car without having to know something about piloting. Not until all flying objects and the entire air traffic system is completly automated. If you are spending $200K you can take the time to get your Sport license.

Finally, I spent time gazing at the original Molt Taylor Aerocar with Bill at Oshkosh and have to say there is just something so neat in looking on the dashboard of a "car" and seeing an altimiter and airspeed guage...

Where's your $194000?

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

Two hundred grand for a trip on Virgin Galactic, $194,000 for a flying car.

-Clearly I need a better paying job.