Flying Cars - Still A Science Fiction or Reality?
Concept of flying car is no more a science fiction now and has become reality. Flying car is the advance or new form of automobile that can legally travel on roads and can take off, fly, and land as an aircraft. American aviation company Terrafugia announced recently that their "transition street airplane" completed its maiden flight on March 23 in Plattsburgh, New York.
A brief history of flying cars: The very first working flying car prototype was built in 1917 by Glenn Curtiss. The Autoplane was a small craft at only 27 feet long, and could only carry a payload of 710 pounds. But the car with wings was an exciting development at the time, and Curtiss believed that it would soon become the personal transportation of everyone who could afford it. Sadly, the Autoplane never achieved sustained flight. It made a few hops, but it was destined to go down in history as the flying car that never really flew.
The flying car has always had a special place in the imagination of inventors in automobile industry. Many successful experiments in past has proved that a car could be built to fly, and inspired a new group of roadable aircraft enthusiasts. Various forms of flying cars have been developed over the last century, and some of them were nearly successful. With advances in lightweight material, computer modeling and computer-controlled aircraft, the dream has become reality.
The invention of the car is one of the most influential inventions in the human history and a beginning of a colorfulcar history. Flying car or roadable aircraft, is the advance or new form of automobile that can legally travel on roads and can take off, fly, and land as an aircraft. Terrafugia has been working on flying cars since 2006. Terrafugia announced recently about competion of the first flight of their machine The future flying car is named 'Transition' “roadable aircraft” or "transition street airplane"
Specifications of flying car:
The Transition can be driven around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of automotive fuel and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon. The car needs a runway.
The limousine-length Transition can zip along highways at a little over 60 mph. It runs on premium unleaded gasoline, which is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than jet fuel. The "Transition" can drive on roads and highways, park in a single car garage, and is powered by regular unleaded petrol.
The vehicle has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. It is a production prototype for one of the first “roadable aircraft” approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority: a flying car that’s capable of being driven legally to the local airport, unfolding its wings, and then taking off and cruising at 100 mph before landing on a runway and driving you to your final destination. That’s all while delivering 35 mpg on the highway and 20 mpg in the air.
It is expected to go on sale next year. Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later at the New York Auto Show. It's expected to cost $279,000.
Now, the people who are closest to making that dream real—putting a car in the air, whatever they call it—are about the least starry-eyed folks you could meet. Terrafugia co-founder Carl Dietrich, 31, winces at that idea. “I’d hesitate to call any of us visionaries,” he says. “We’re engineers.”
Useful links:
experts in New Cars on Knoji.
Wow, wish to read one of them. Cars of the future are already here!
Great article! No more traffic.
I have been reading a great deal about this concept car/airplane lately. Very interesting article.