Friday, May 16, 2008

YAFC (yet another flying car): Terrafugia Transition - SendMeRSS

poster_cost_final_small.jpgNot content to make money the old fashioned way, a team of MIT grads has been hard at work for the past couple of years working on a two passenger flying car drivable airplane. Terrafugia's Transition recently took a drubbing on Slashdot for even attempting to reconcile the oftentimes contradictory goals of aviation vs. automotive engineering. The CEO was kind enough to respond to his detractors here, stressing ad nauseum that future Darwin Awards will be strictly limited to licensed pilots. Eons ago (in TTAC time), Jonny Lieberman pointed out the limitations of carbon fiber in car construction. And we could go on forever about the bicycle tire-sized contact patches, side-wind gusts from an oncoming train of curious SUV drivers, lack of suspension travel, and the challenge of manually parallel parking the damn thing (oh, and downforce? what's that?!). At least the Terrafugia Transition sounds a lot better than the Flying Pinto which killed its inventors during its maiden flight. Good luck, guys, I'm looking forward to the resulting Hollywood treatment.
Link - Comments - Richard Chen - Fri, 16 May 2008 06:25:50 GMT - Feed (1 subs)
User comment: By: Busbodger
Thanks but I don't want any of these flying over my house piloted by amateur pilots. I have seen how those same amateurs drive cars... What is the point of the flying car? Make urban travel easier? So we would have hundreds or thousands of these passing over our heads each day along with their noise? Thanks but no thanks.
User comment: By: Landcrusher
Just read the link to the CEO's interview. He makes a lot of really good points. I recommend it.
User comment: By: Landcrusher
523 old buddy, I gotta disagree with you here. There are plenty of idiots seeking pilots licenses already. Luckily, aviation is different from driving and cycling and they get to kill themselves off with few if any victims. The great thing is that a lot of them learn something in the process of getting a license, and become less of an idiot. The compromises for a roadable aircraft are many. They will be a rarity for a long time, but one day, they will not be so rare. I am pretty sure there will never be one in every garage, but I think we will be seeing more of them.
User comment: By: N85523
As a driver, I don't want to share the road with these contraptions. As a pilot, I really don't want to share the sky with these and the pilots that will venture into aviation with the sole purpose of owning one of these machines. That said, I'm not all that concerned about the future of the flying car, given the concept's previous record.
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