‘Flyving?’: See the Amazing Flying Car Complete Its Successful Test
- Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:36am by
Liz Klimas
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Fifty years ago, we may have thought flying cars and jet packs would have been a common mode of travel by now. While they may not mainstream yet, it‘s safe to say flying personal vehicles are moving from the realm of Jetsons’ sci-fi closer to reality.
Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its prototype flying car has completed its first flight. The Transition aircraft flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month and will be displayed to the public this weekend at the New York Auto Show.
Transition goes from road travel to air travel. (Photo: Terrafuga)
“It’s a remarkable vehicle both on the road and, now, in the air,” Chief Test Pilot Phil Meeter said in a statement. “When I drove it into the shop, literally from the road through the garage door, I was amazed that I had just flown it at Plattsburgh a few days before. A long-overdue mode of transportation and fun is just around the corner. I can’t wait for the upcoming flight tests and the chance to ‘wring it out’, demonstrating how safe and enjoyable the Transition is to fly.”
(Related: The future is here: These ‘transition’ flying cars approved as street legal)
Watch the prototype’s first flight here:
The craft has folding wings so it can be driven on the street after it lands. It can go up to 70 miles per hour on the ground and up to 115 miles per hour in the air.
Terrafugia expects to begin deliveries of the flying car to customers within a year. Spokesman Steven Moscaritolo said around 100 people have put down a $10,000 deposit to get one of the vehicles, which are expected to cost $279,000.
Another manufacturer from the Netherlands has developed a vehicle for “flyving,” a term coined by Jalopnik. The Pal-V ONE, it states, is an “autogyro,” which uses helicopter-like technology. The three-wheeled vehicle can travel for more than 300 miles at speeds around 110 mph.
(Photo: Pal-V)
(Photo: Pal-V)
The Dutch company explains that even if the engine fails, the gyroplane will still be able to make a safe landing as the rotor keeps auto rotating. The Pal-V ONE made its first successful maiden voyage in March.
Check out the Pal-V ONE in this ITN News report:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (71)
sbenard
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:27pmAmazing! I want one!
I‘ve been following Terrafugia’s development of this vehicle for years! I wonder what kind of licensing will be necessary, both for the vehicle, and the driver!
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:38pmIf I rember right Bob Commings /sp?/ had one bock in the 60′s
Report Post »RobertWW
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 6:31pmYou need a sports flying lessons. Costs less than traditional private license as well as less time. They mentioned that when they first started test flights.
Report Post »JimSB
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:11pmI remember seeing a cable show (I think it was “Mysteries in the Museum” or something like that), which showed the Aerocar, developed in the early ’50s. The show explained how government regulations killed it. As our regulatory environment has certainly not improved, I wonder if this invention can survive todays slings and arrows of conflicting government rules.
Report Post »Leopold
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:37pmMan, do I would like to have one of those around.
This is so cool.
And maybe more affordable to some.
Report Post »Silvertruth
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 3:44pmActually, the new Sport Pilot license allows for an easier entry into piloting. It’s essentially a new category of aircraft as well. If you like waterplanes, look up the Icon A5, it is in the new sport plane category as well.
Report Post »psychokittis
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 5:44pm@ Leopold-
Report Post »I checked them out most recently a few months ago. You’re right-they are affordable to a few. Terrafugia says the sterting price is around $250,000. Give or take. Still-It’s a pretty cool rig.
RobertWW
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 6:32pmThey’ve been taking pre-orders, starting $125,000.00, according to the news report I read a couple of years ago.
Report Post »garylee123
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:10pmI hope it runs on solar power because that’s what will be mandated next.
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:17pmNope! Sails!
And that‘s how Obama’s EPA expects farmer to run their machinery soon, too! Sails!
And that’s why there will be a FAMINE dead ahead!
Report Post »burnbabylon
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 3:12pm@SBERNARD Solar and sail powered submarine fleet first.
Report Post »Apple Bite
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 1:00pmOne good T-bone from an American made truck would make them rethink their efforts.
Report Post »mokyfellow
Posted on April 7, 2012 at 7:16pmI wonder what insurance company will insure these? Would one policy cover you as a ground vehicle and another as an air vehicle?
Report Post »Energizer26
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 12:23pmThis “prototype” is actually the production prototype, in other words they have had the Terrafugia out for several years now but the one that they had been flying was a custom built model and now they have built a production factory so that they can make and sell these flying cars in mass quantity. It’s unlikely that I will be able to afford one in this decade but I have been following this for years. Yes, you need a pilots license and yes you are supposed to take off and land at an Airport but if I ever get one I’m going to try an empty road to take off from. This may be expensive and impractical now but so were the first computers, which took decades before most people had a one. I can imagine these being sold for one tenth the price in a decade from now.
Report Post »red_white_blue2
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 12:22pmI’ll wait 20 yrs for them to iron out the details…little things like FAA and flying regulations–cause u know this would be just one more thing to regulate and have a commitee on.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 4:52pmOne good point to bring to your attention is that DMV employees are expendable and jobs will open up for driver certifiers. More jobs for muslims. If they crash, it’s 72 virgins waiting.
Report Post »singingcowboy674
Posted on April 7, 2012 at 5:51pmDoubt we’ll be here in 20 years RWB. If we are, I don‘t think we’ll be needing wings to fly. :)
Report Post »Henrys_Ghost
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:40amCan’t fit my family and a weekend worth of “stuff” in one, so what good are they? I’d be better off with medium sized chopper.
Report Post »Pontiac
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 12:16pmIt’s like a 2001 All-in-One printer. Does everything, but no one thing well.
Report Post »Thighmaster
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:37amImpressive, but can you crop dust with it ?
Report Post »Lets-do-it
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:29amDrive to the airport from your house to take off and land every time. Yeah right.
Report Post »Tom K
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 2:18pm@LETS-DO-IT: If you can afford one of these, you buy acreage, grade a runway and take-off and land at your own place. Government will really hate that.
Report Post »Lets-do-it
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:25amSo, you have to drive to the airport to take off and land from your house? Really!
Report Post »tmplarnite
Posted on April 7, 2012 at 1:28pmOne has to have a FAA approved landing area…the problem is if ‘one’ jerk complains the approval goes away?!
Report Post »JinOH
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:23amI want one of each.
Report Post »HYPNOTOAD
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:22amGood luck getting it annualed if you get into a fender bender on the streets. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy an old beater and leave it at the airport in the town you fly to.
Report Post »s0ck_monkey
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:17amYeah, right…cars that can also fly. Will it include an autopilot feature so the idiots that text, surf Facebook, and Twitter can do so without flying into a building?
Which brings up another question…whats to keep some disgruntled jackass with a “drivers license” from crashing his “car” into an office building because he’s pissed off?
Would it be cool to have cars that can also fly? You bet! But I don’t think the majority of us are ready for that kind of responsiblity.
And I just thought of another question…since it can fly, does that mean you also need a pilots license? If so, then there’s no worries. Todays society of the Jerry Springer & reality TV watchers wouldn’t be able to pass the FAA exam.
Report Post »Ruckus_Tom
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:11amPut a truck bed on that thing so people can haul firewood from point A to point B.
Then I’ll be impressed.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:29amLOL! I agree. This is so much H S .
Report Post »Sparrowhawk011
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:48amDidn’t an Eagle Scout build a flying car over 15 years ago? I recall reading about it in Boy’s Life Magazine… and I recall that it was not “street legal” despite having a wingspan of only 10 feet, which is within the maximum street-legal width. As I recall, the only thing he had to do to go from driving to flying was to kill the engine, flip a switch, and start back up in “airplane mode.”
Report Post »yanki161
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:35amOne bit of good news…. They’re hiring.
Report Post »Shasta
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 12:38pmYeah, wait until the unions show up.
Report Post »Sh3LLz
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:33amI wouldnt call this thing a “car”. Planes roll and they can roll pretty fast. This is just a plane with foldable wings and four wheels…. Its not a “car”. Military aircraft have had this tech for YEARS.
Report Post »randy
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:28amImagine what that thing will look like if it ever gets in an accident with my full size Eddie Bauer full size Bronco. With all the gov’t safety regulations, will they actually allow this thing to be on the road?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:25amNow watch Kaiser Obama and radical cronies demand this thing be kept grounded due to the fact he has not yet given the technology to his communist buddies.
Report Post »Plan B
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:22amWow!!
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:14amThe flying car! The worst of both worlds.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:25amIt‘s like we’re rediscovering 1950′s technology. Actually, I think the aerocar was alot better than this piece of turd.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 12:02pmThe worst of all possible worlds?…a Russian flying car!
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:09amI like the autogyro better than the fold up plane. Both technologies have been around for 30 years or more now.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 10:18amAgreed. I was really tickled to see the gyroplane’s “switch-blade” propeller.
Report Post »Poggle The Stick
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:50amI wish Leonardo Da Vinci could see this…
Report Post »GoodCook
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:43amThat thing must have one huge blind spot when being driven on the ground
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:58amIt’s more of a driveable plane than a flying car.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:42amUntil they make them run on batteries, I want nothing to do with them. I prefer the polution of a coal fired plant to fuel my vehicle over the polution from a combustion engine. I’m sooo greeen!
Report Post »oldguy49
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 9:47amyep…….with this gov unless they run on solar cells you can’t have one………….just avoid clouds
Report Post »Thighmaster
Posted on April 3, 2012 at 11:41am..and when you’re flying do you get a refund for the road tax you paid on fuel ?
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