Typing those three words in the title of this article brings to mind images from two different movies:
1.) The Fifth Element
2.) Star Wars (one of the newer episodes, but I don't remember which).
It's a dream finally come true. The notion of a flying car has been nothing but an aviation enthusiast's fantasy, until March 5th of this year. The winged automobile was a project that was started by M.I.T students four years ago. It was hammered out through the design process and made its first test flight on March 5th, at 7:40 AM. The aircraft/automobile completed a successful take-off and landing maneuver. To be specific, the craft took off and flew for a good 37 seconds before landing further down the runway.
The overall appearance of the vehicle is the product of a marriage between an airplane and an automobile (as expected, right?). It looks somewhat like an elongated Volkswagen Beetle, with a tail and wings. The pilot of the vehicle can switch from flight mode to drive mode from the driver's seat (or cockpit). Switching from flight-mode to drive-mode makes the vehicle fold up the wings and shift engine power from the rear-mounted propeller to the front wheels, simultaneously.
Now, since the notion of a flying car has been established as a reality, the next hurdle it must overcome is identifying its purpose in life. An interesting suggestion was made by the CEO of Terrafugia, the start-up company that is testing the craft. A purpose of the vehicle could be avoiding bad weather, possibly nullifying one of the largest causes of accidents for airplanes. The vehicle could land in one airport, then be driven to another airport. Once the vehicle has passed the storm, it could be taken to the sky again.
This airplane/automobile or "roadable plane" is hoped to begin production in late 2011, just in time for graduation.
To read more about this, click here.
-George Wong
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
George,
ReplyDeleteI saw a special on that vehicle, and found it intriguing. Unlike your post, the special didn't give much of a reason for actually owning one, other than that it was cool. The reason the CEO gives makes some sense, actually.
If I recall correctly, the whole contraption is meant to be easy to pilot, so someone wouldn't need to be any better at flying than they are driving. Is that right?
- GS
The article didn't mention the difficulty (or ease) of flying the vehicle, but it did mention a special type of flying license. The license only required about 20 hours of fly time, which is half of a normal pilot's license.
ReplyDelete