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."

Where's my jetpack?

This reminds me of a book I was flipping through earlier this evening at a local bookstore, Daniel Wilson's Where's My Jetpack? [amazon.com] , 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?

Here's a real flying car [timesonline.co.uk]. 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.

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I love that thing...

It's interesting that nobody thought of this (a parawing car) before, considering the big bucks honest companies like Terrafugia and shysters like Moller have spent in the last few years.

The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground. So it wouldn't do for something where stealthiness is a requirement. But for survivability, I'd bet on a ripstop nylon wing over steel spars and aluminum ribs any day

Re:Will 80 mph do?

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 :)

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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

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

I'm surprised he's not also adapting it to airboats [wikipedia.org] 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?

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!)

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If the traffic's at a crawl, 80mph looks pretty good.

Re:Will 80 mph do?

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?

Oh, but I still want one.

Terrafugia? I don't think so.

"Maybe they'll take inspiration from Terrafugia's "drivable airplane."

I don't think so. With Terrafugia you have to drag your wings behind you and put the thing together when you want to take off, complete with standard runway. It takes a few minutes to transition from a land vehicle to an airplane. These guys are talking about instant transition. One second you're driving on the ground and the next you are airborne.

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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

its almost 2009

Where is my flying.. errr. ummm..

Oooo shiny object to the left.

I like other ones..

Hack a day has a much better looking flying car..

http://hackaday.com/2008/11/13/flying-cars-a-reality/ [hackaday.com]

Autogyro

What about an autogyro?
Relatively few moving parts, has good STOL capabilities and easily compacted if the blades can be folded.

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What about an autogyro? Relatively few moving parts, has good STOL capabilities and easily compacted if the blades can be folded.

Built properly it might be worth while but if you do that you may as well build a helicopter. The advantage of the autogyro is that you can build half a helicopter on the cheap and live with the risk of it falling apart in mid air.

No one on Moller yet?

So, every few years I take a look at www.moller.com and see what's up. For the past 10 years (maybe longer), they've been 2 years away from delivering a product. It looks great. Has stats that aren't bad at all. It just doesn't exist. Hopefully Moller is less of a kook than he sounds like, and he'll enter this, get more funding, and finish off the car he's had 10,000 years in the making. I'd buy one.

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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.

A good idea who's time has come

Personal automated air transport should not be that tough.

All the components that are required to build a pilotless VTOL aircract are readily available. For example:

• 2 seater Bell or McDonnell Douglas helicopter with a NOTAR [wikipedia.org] system.
• Multiple redundant parachutes. Both vehicular and personal
• GPS. Use it to fly the damn thing. Yes Im serious! If it loses signal, it can just go set down on the nearest flat bit of ground. I just don't see the software being really that big of a deal to write.

If the cost could be b

Re:Great!

It's amazing what weirdo's with a bunch of money can do http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules [wikipedia.org]
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.

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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" argume

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Don't be silly. This is far too small a project to interest the White House.

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

In the arena currently, there are enough explosive devices in place to do that for the current heavy, flightless vehicles. I thus presume the ability to convert to flight may be to evade these same explosives.

Hopefully the enemy doesn't respond with thin metal clothesline technology.

Re: How far does it have to fly?

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...

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-(