It's Not a Flying Car - It's a Drivable Airplane 243
waderoush writes "Aviation enthusiasts have been dreaming of flying cars since the 1940s. But in an old machine shop in Woburn, MA, a team of MIT aero/astro grads is building what could be the first practical airplane that's also certified for highway driving. Angel-funded startup Terrafugia, headed by 2006 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich, hopes to have its first full-scale proof-of-concept vehicle ready to show off at July's AirVenture aviation festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin."
Stupid idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stupid idea (Score:5, Insightful)
For places with no aviation authorities, yeah, they'll probably see their share of car-planes landing/falling in interesting places because some moron was trying to shave, drink his coffee, and check his email while flying to work. But those places will be few and far between.
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most anyone that has to:
a) Go to work
b) Check email on the way
c) Shave
d) Satisfy caffeine addiction
is most likely living in a region that does have an aviation authority.
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Of course, they probably do that now with any number of things, so the flying car would just be a newer, more expensive route to a Darwin Award.
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Maybe someone familiar with the safety statistics for single engine planes can chime in, but here in California it's not at all uncommon to read about planes crashing into people's homes and backyards.
Re:Stupid idea (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/trend.html [aopa.org]
The number of general aviation accidents was down slightly (2 percent) for the fourth quarter. In year-to-date comparisons, general aviation accidents saw an increase as compared to 2006 figures (6 percent).
General Aviation Accidents
According to the FAA, there were a total of 315 general aviation accidents in the fourth quarter of 2007 (down 2 percent from 2006). This figure is the lowest total for the fourth quarter. Accidents for the past several months showed a continued improvement of the GA safety record. Year-end comparisons show a 6-percent increase in general aviation accidents (1,607 in 2007 vs. 1,518 in 2006).
Re:Stupid idea (Score:5, Insightful)
And to the grandparent poster: judging safety by reading the news is almost precisely backwards. The reason you hear about small planes crashing into things on the news is because it's rare enough to be newsworthy. A hundred people die on the roads in this country every day, and they almost never show up on the news because it's simply too commonplace.
Re:Stupid idea (Score:4, Informative)
There are a large enough number of flights even with fewer flights that it shouldn't effect the overall percentage of incidents per flight.
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Your second paragraph simply makes no sense. The number of flights being made is irrelevant, only the percentage change matters.
Tracking the number of GA flights being made is hard, so let's use avgas sales as a substitute. The linked page indicates that avga
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The ratio should remain constant only if all other factors remain constant, which is unlikely to say the least. One possibility is that in conjunction with a decreased total number of flights, there was an increase in the retirement of older, more experienced pilots. Perhaps an increase of flights coincides with increased pilot fatigue, or an influx of new pilots. And
Re:Stupid idea (Score:5, Informative)
Emphasis mine.
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Actually, if people were flying their planes less you would see the opposite effect; the number of accidents per hour flown would go up because the pilots flying would be out of practice.
And yes, IAAP (I am a pilot).
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Aircraft diesels such as SMA and heavy-fuel engines like the Hirth can be far more efficient and burn cheaper fuel than gas engines. Too bad they aren't available (yet) with more HP.
http://www.smaengines.com/spip.php?id_rubrique=2&id_article=8&page=home [smaengines.com]
http://www.hirth-uavengines.de/ [hirth-uavengines.de]
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So, it's not like you can lift off and land wherever you want, it just happens to be one vehicle that can be both a plane and a car.
To be honest, after reading the terrafugia webpage, it doesn't look at all like it's being targetted to the general audience, it's simply a proof-of-concept thing.
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Compromises usually do not offer the best of both worlds, they offer the minimum.
Actually... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not a pilot but I had a job as a lineman at small county airport while in college. I used to fly all over the place with the pilots that worked for the company, either for fun or (no shit) so they could have someone to talk to and not fall asleep. (we did overflow for UPS, all the flights were in the middle of the night)
You take off, get clearance to fly a direct route to where you are going, enter in to the gps the code for airport you just left and which one you are going to, and wait until you get there.
Amusing story, The first time I ever flew in a plane was after I started working there. One of the pilots had just landed from a long flight, something came up and he had to immediately go on another flight. He knew I had never flown so he asked me if I wanted to go with him. We take off, he sets the gps up then leans back in the seat and says "wake me up if I fall asleep". Slightly disconcerting for your first time in the air.
Re:Actually... (Score:5, Funny)
Nice.
I want to hear a commuter jet pilot say that over the intercom on a red eye flight some light. "*kkrsh* Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. I've pulled a double shift today, so if the plane starts to list, please knock loudly on the cockpit door."
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We take off, he sets the gps up then leans back in the seat and says "wake me up if I fall asleep". Slightly disconcerting for your first time in the air.
Ye gods, that's scary. I'm afraid that kind of behavior will be disconcerting to me no matter how many times I've been in the air. Yeah, the GPS and autopilot will fly you there. It will also fly you into the tower, mountain, or temporary hazard (tethered balloons, etc.) that lies along the straight line between here and there. It won't save you from having done something stupid, like missing something in one of your checklists because you were too damn tired (left the choke in the wrong position, etc.)
It
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stupid idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh my !@#king godz yes!
One of the biggest limitations of flying is... what do you do once you land there? It's just like fast Internet - the famous "last mile" problem. Great, there's a small airport just 3 miles from your destination, making your 6 hour drive, 3-day trip into a 1.5 hour flight, day-tripper, but how do you get that last 3 miles from the airport to your actual, intended destination?
You can rent a car, but that's hassle-prone and expensive. You can ask somebody there to pick you up, but that's dicey at best. Also, if the weather goes bad, you're stuck. And then what?
This "drivable airplane" solves both problems completely!
Yes, I'm a private pilot. I fly for business and pleasure. (had a great time taking my sister up just yesterday!) And let me tell you: I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want!!!
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or noteworthy rhetorical hyperbole
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Certified to drive.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Certified to drive.... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Certified to drive.... (Score:5, Informative)
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Actually, It's gotten two (Score:2, Informative)
New Slashdotting record. (Score:2)
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what would you do... (Score:4, Funny)
And I thought I knew you man...
I don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
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Building roadable airplanes is all about minimizing the weight
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Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
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How is that different from a flying car? Put another way, isn't that also what a flying car is expected to do?
This is what I was getting at: the idea of a flying car for the masses is fundamentally flawed, since being a pilot takes a lot more skill than driving a car, and there's a higher risk involve
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How is that different from a flying car? Put another way, isn't that also what a flying car is expected to do?
No, a "flying car" is typically expected to be able to fly from anywhere to anywhere, usually with the assumption that there will be vertical or near vertical takeoff and landing, and it is typically expected to be advanced enough that "everyone" can fly it.
This is what I was getting at: the idea of a flying car for the masses is fundamentally flawed, since being a pilot takes a lot more skill than driving a car, and there's a higher risk involved since there's no such thing as a fender-bender in the air.
Sigh. But this is not about a "flying car for the masses". it's about a plane that can be driven on a road to/from the airport. Why you keep bringing up flying cars when this thing targets an entirely different type of market is beyond me, unless
Great. Now where will I get the gas? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Great. Now where will I get the gas? (Score:5, Funny)
It is. Half car, half plane. A hybrid.
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That said, I doubt you can have a hybrid or battery driven airplane - not without sufficient advancement in lightweight battery tech anyway. You'd probably add enough weight to offset the gains of using a battery.
Besides, it needs to be economical. I'm not about to start using a battery operated car until such time that my electric bills and convenience equal that of gas. Until then, dead dinos it is.
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Battery powered airplane!
Good thing it can fly (Score:5, Funny)
That whole ability-to-fly thing will come in handy when the first gust of wind you encounter blows you off a bridge.
A very light car with a huge side profile = the ditch.
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It'd still get blown around like a leaf on the road, but wouldn't actually be too bad unless its a really big storm.
wrong department (Score:5, Funny)
hopes to have its first full-scale proof-of-concept vehicle ready to show off at July's AirVenture aviation festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
From the "endeavors best left unrushed" department...
Seriously, rushing to meet unrealistic deadlines is what causes spectacular failure- and this is really something best left to perfect.
You don't want to hear "AAAAAAAH!" from the crowd, you want to hear "oooooooo"...
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I used to work at the Curwood Corporate HQ... which is across the street from the Oshkosh airport. In July we had signs posted around the building that, instead of saying what to do if a plane crashed into the building, said what to do when a plane crashed into the building.
Basically what I'm saying is my former colleagues agree with your "please don't rush this" idea!
If you RTFA you'd see they don't intend to fly it (Score:2)
Flying cars are nonsense. (Score:2)
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Re:Flying cars are nonsense. (Score:5, Insightful)
As a regular driver and a semi-regular pilot, I'm not sure I agree with that. Driving takes continuous alertness and work because you're surrounded by dangerous stuff, much of it being driven in the opposite direction only a meter or so away by crazy idiots talking on cellphones. In a plane, somewhere between 70 and 95% of the time, you have nothing more than air molecules in all directions for better than 2 km. I know pilots who have set alarm clocks, gotten the plane in stable flight with their 3 axis autopilot, and then gone to sleep for an hour while the plane tooled through the sky: a damned bad idea, but perfectly viable in a plane.
Aircraft demand some skill in handling the plane in takeoff, and rather a lot in landing, and *enormous* amounts when there's an emergency and you have to do a bunch of intelligent things in the right order to survive. But overall, as regards routine flying, I don't think they require anywhere near as much consistent skill as driving.
Re:Flying cars are nonsense. (Score:5, Interesting)
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But at the same time, when you look at where the traffic density is high, at airports, that's where the majority of accidents happen, and if there were more people flying, that number would rise disproportionately, lik
This Has Ended Badly Before (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.fordpinto.com/mitzar1.htm [fordpinto.com]
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=84720&key=0 [ntsb.gov]
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Because humor is mankind's way of dealing with failure and our own mortality? See if you can find a metacategory that contains all the things you laugh at. (I think it was Heinlein that first noticed this.)
In any case, the guy screwed the wing struts into the pinto's door panels with sheet-metal screws. It's not like the crash was, you know, surprising. His death is not one for which heaven will gran
Correction to article (Score:2, Funny)
Perfect for the Rural Mountain West (Score:2, Interesting)
Flying car has already been invented (Score:5, Funny)
Here's how it's done, ladies and gents...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcusjb/440970636/in/photostream/ [flickr.com]
Other flying cars from the 1970's (Score:2)
And a couple years earlier, in 1977, there was a certain black Trans-Am [imdb.com] that flew at least once.
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And here's one from a competing company...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamplemousse/225029183/ [flickr.com]
Blind spots (Score:3, Interesting)
What a blind spot! (Score:2)
And I wonder how it will work with ethanol gas? That apparently is all you can get now for cars. The specs don't specify aircraft fuel.
And the useful load numbers are not that great. 550 lbs and 120 lbs of that is fuel. Today people are hitting the 200lbs mark very easily. I'll bet this beast is sluggis
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This reminds me of the ones that already exist (Score:2)
Get the drunk drivers off the road ... (Score:2, Funny)
I am all for anything that speeds up natural selection.
Eagles make bad cows (Score:3, Insightful)
Car: heavy suspension built to handle potholes and such; real-world roads still apply various nasty twisting moments throughout the body, which must be stiff enough to cope. Can ignore the occasional shopping cart dimpling the sides as irrelevant to operational safety.
Plane: built very VERY lightly. Undercarriage takes one good "whomp" on landing but time spent taxiing is a very small part of the overall life of the vehicle. Even a minor ding may result in it being flagged non-airworthy.
Executive summary: Cars make lousy planes. Planes make lousy cars.
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negative /. response (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:negative /. response (Score:5, Insightful)
That's all for now. Tune in later for "I know about topic X, topic X rhymes with article topic Y, let me tell you how smart I am" and everyone's favorite "This scientific breakthrough is no big deal unless I can buy some practical application of it tomorrow at Wal-Mart"
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Those of us that are licensed pilots (alas, not current in my case) think this is a cool idea. Ground transport when you get to your destination airport is always an issue. Years back they used to sell a small motorbike that folded up into something the size of a suitcase, my father-in-law had one. Or if you have a regular destination, you buy a cheap used c
It's about time! (Score:2)
A tad premature (Score:2)
But Moller has had a functional 2-seat volantor for about four years and "A FAA certified model is more than four years away." and has been for at least a decade.
Suffice to say, I don't think that this is an easy problem to solve.
Rent a Car (Score:2)
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You combine the two because it is practical for you and you are ready to sacrifice comfort/space/maneuverability for convenience and fast transit.
'practical'? (Score:2)
Finally, someone willing to throw their hat ... (Score:3, Funny)
The Flying Car [viewaskew.com] - A short by Kevin Smith
A small fortune? (Score:2)
I though that was pretty much true of any field. I know I've heard it said that the best way to make a small fortune in the stock market is to start with a large one, and I have a hard time thinking of any area of business where that isn't the case. Hence the age-old saying "It takes money to make money." (Well, it doesn't really, but it sure helps out.)
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(Well, it doesn't really, but it sure helps out.)
Oh, but it does, at every level of the economy. If you can't afford to feed yourself, buy water for showers, and rent a quiet place to sleep at night, you simply won't be able to make money. You might try to get a job, but without food in your stomach, good hygiene, and a rested mind, you'll be fired quickly.
Granted, there are some opportunities in the world to get food, water, and shelter for free, making it possible to make money without having money yo
Killed by insurance (Score:3, Informative)
I think the idea is impractical for many other, technical reasons, but litigiousness and insurance are the deadly killers.
Think, folks, think (Score:2)
Read the topic and the article! (Score:2, Informative)
THIS! IS! NOT! A! FLYING! CAR!
Let's go back to the Jetsons and think of what we saw in their cartoon. The concept of a flying car is a vehicle in which the general public can transport themselves in the air and start from and end at any point desired. It is currently unsafe, illegal, and HIGHLY not recommended for any such implementation to even happen. The general public would have to be trained on basic
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To a certain degree. I think they may actually be targeting real customers, though. There are plenty of aviation enthusiasts who are bit by the problem of finding transportation once they're on the ground. Renting a car isn't a big deal, but the cost does add up. This design would probably be targeted at such enthusiasts who would not only have a car once they were on the ground, but would also be able to avoid hanger fees!
On a side-note, Oshkosh is whe
The rest of Wisconsin... (Score:3, Funny)
-Rick
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Think about it - what would it cost you to park your car at the airport every day?