Flying Car’s Phase 1 Test Flight Is a Success — But What’s Up Next?
- Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:32pm by
Liz Klimas
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Progress continues to be made on the flying cars The Blaze told you about only a few months ago.
The Terrafugia Transition recently announced its completion of Phase 1 test flights at the Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, New York. According to the Woburn, Mass., company’s announcement, the success of these tests checked off power on and power off handling, aircraft stability, engine cooling evaluation, and propeller setting optimization in various flight conditions.
(Image: YouTube screenshot)
(Image: YouTube screenshot)
“It’s a real airplane; we’re flying it whenever we want, for as long as we want,” Terrafugia CEO/CTO Carl Dietrich said in a statement.
Watch the highlights of Phase 1 testing:
The street-legal plane has five more flight tests planned, and its next phase of testing will evaluate ground drivetrain, suspension tuning, braking performance, and road handling.
“We have great momentum going in our testing program,” said Terrafugia COO Anna Mracek Dietrich in a statement. “Our top priority this summer is flight and drive-testing, in anticipation of certifying compliance with the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standards.
Only in March did Terrafugia announce Transition’s first flight at 1,400 feet for eight minutes. The proof of concept for the car was completed in 2009. As of April, about 100 people had already put down deposits for the $279,000 (base price) plane.
According to the company’s website, first delivery of the vehicle is still scheduled for late 2012.
(H/T: Wired)
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Comments (56)
Rowgue
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 5:35pmThat’s not a flying car. It‘s a plane that’s been modified so you can drive it on the street after a lengthy conversion process. And good luck in an auto accident in that thing, a smart car would turn it into road pizza.
Report Post »JC_AZ
Posted on July 4, 2012 at 8:44amActually this is pretty innovative ttecchnology and the ‘transition’ time is relatively short and simple. I have been in prototype and the designers are an extremely bright group of folks. Safety, performance and user-friendly with respect to car-plane applicability were biggest drivers for the design. The price-point is in the range of many new general aviation airplanes, however only a two-seater and LSA, so slightly higher than other LSA category airplanes…of course you can drive this one home and park it in the garage or wherever else once you reach your destination
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on July 4, 2012 at 7:56pmThere ain‘t gonna’ be no ‘flying’ cars. Get used to it. These are fantasies. Sure people are ‘inventing’ them. But a ‘product’ vs an experiment are two different things.
Report Post »battles
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 5:17pmI think that pilots have to carry $1 million liability insurance on small planes now. If I hit this thing on the road, my company will pay only $25k. :( Is he ever going to be disappointed! I suppose that they might have to carry addition auto insurance on this thing also. Comprehensive insurance will probably be through the roof, like a high end Maserati.
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 11:06pmWrong! Insurance is NOT required. It IS advisable, though.
Report Post »vinny48
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 4:13pmI would have liked to see it operate as a car, regardless if I could affords one.
Report Post »eric6161
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 4:10pmMost of the people that can afford to buy these have the intelligence to not drive and text. It‘s the people with an iq below 90 that think they’re of average intelligence that scare me… but then again they’d never pass their flight tests.
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 4:10pmWhat kind of license will I need to operate one? Auto, airplane, or both?
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 11:07pmYes
Report Post »alpha2omega47
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:46pmHow many will die from texting while flying? This is just ignorant bull corn to keep us distracted from the sorry shape America is in because of our Marxist president ~ Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro.
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:39pmWho was that damed idiot that invented the Tee-vision
Report Post »It just nonsense – who wants to look at people talking.
The radio is just fine.
The damed things cost so much – for what?
bum
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:31pm80% of people can‘t drive properly much less operate a ’car plane’. cool though.
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 11:09pmSince they won’t qualify for a license, NO PROBLEM.
Report Post »ImmediateRealityCheck
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:19pmHonestly, if some people didn’t have a negative thought, they wouldn’t have any. For the average guy driving down the freeway and dreaming of being able to take off and fly, this is a dream come true. Even if the sour grape bloggers here can’t appreciate progress, it will be boon to creative individuals coming up with great applications such as high-end taxis, commuter flights to remote cabins, resorts, fishing locations, and I bet anyone in the vast open spaces of the western states would love to have one to use on the long empty stretches of highway to get groceries from town and check on his cattle, etc. Use your imagination looking for positive uses instead of a Vulture Mentality tearing something apart. Honestly, some people would complain if they were hung with a new rope!
Report Post »Ben__Franklin
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:03pmSeriously folks, this thing will be priced out of any ones reach except people like Jay Leno and up.The people that can afford one of the these doo-hickies are already limousine’d to their private airport to board their private 747 like Nazi Pelosi of the 0.001%
Report Post »teaisstronger
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:16pmAll new products are very expensive when first available. The start up and tooling costs must be recovered. As the product like this flying car become more popular, the price goes down. Airline, TV, Color TV, VCRs were very expensive until people began wanting them. A trip to the Moon in 2014 will cost over $4 Million but in ten years the price will probably cost the same as a First Class ticket on the Titanic.
Report Post »Ben__Franklin
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 6:57pmThen why can I not afford my own private jet? They have been around for 50+ years and the price has still not dropped for the average man. How about a yacht? Boats have been around for 1000s of years, why cannot the average man afford his own? Same as this flying car, it will always be priced for only select clientele.
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 11:20pmNew aircraft are expensive, certification costs and product liability insurance keep them that way. Even the cheapest LSA light plane production models are $50,000 and above. These were originally meant to bring down the cost of flying, it didn’t. I sold my Piper and am building a home built amphibian LSA. The wings can be folded, so it can be brought home on a trailer and kept in the garage. It’s not as nice as a Terrafugia, though.
Report Post »tommyg524
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:53pmEven IF we all could afford one, then what, we all wait up to 4 hours for a take off clearance? Yes, lets be 6 hours late for work instead of a half hour.
Report Post »pavnvet
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:11pmMost general aviation and the small commercial airports have very little in the way of traffic. One of the hardest things to do is find a rental car at many general aviation and even some commercial airports. This answers a lot of mobility issues facing quick hops from let‘s say near one’s home to a client’s place of business. To some it will be a toy to others a meaningful addition to their productivity. I just wish I could afford to keep my pilot’s license current, let alone own one of these. Maybe I will win the lottery.
Report Post »teaisstronger
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:22pmThe only way products of the future like this will ever become possible is if we revoke Obamacare that will require us to revoke the Federal Government. Under the present Federal Government we will never realize the economy and nation needed to deploy a Star Ship USS Enterprise in the future. Freedom, Liberty and Man can only exist in a free nation. The Federal Government is not for Freedom.
Report Post »ReaganBaby
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:52pmWhats with all the negativity? This is great innovation, i love the thought of driving to the runway and taking off without having to leave the vehicle. I predict it is just a matter of time we will see mini landing strips in towns to accommodate these things or even better landing strips on parking garages downtown. Brilliant!!
Report Post »teaisstronger
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 3:18pmNot everyone wants to become a pilot. This car will need computer and microprocessors with new software that will make it as easy and safe to take off and land as an auto. I forsee a motorist at work waiting clearance to take off in the parking lot and the car flying itself.
Report Post »Pontiac
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:34pmLike a late 90′s All-in-One printer, does everything, but no one thing well…
Report Post »hayesstephen
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:32pmI’m really getting bugged by people who seem to think they need a count down!!! How about O.K. go ahead, or fire, or go head and get the darn thing started.O.K. I‘m almost done with this post in three two one I’m gone.
Report Post »tckid17
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:28pmHere’s George Jetson, his boy Elroy! People havent mastered ground transportation yet, just think what the “friendly skies” would be like.
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:28pmI predict many crashes with government drones.
Report Post »Msteiny
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:13pmIts a good idea, until someone runs out of altitude and ideas at the same time. Look at Cirrus Design for instance, it came with a parachute and it still crashes. And not to mention Toyota with all the recalls there. The price tag is big, what about insurance? Probably just as much.
Report Post »Hickory
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:58pmUseless unless you live close to a landing strip.
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:44pmThat’s why you D-R-I-V-E it to an airport. It doesn’t have to be next door.
Report Post »Paul
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:43pmSo? It’s a small plane with folding wings, woo hoo !
Report Post »MikeJoyous11
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:43pmThe problem here is that these folks are reinventing the wheel–and a most expensive one, at that. About 30 years ago, in Popular Mechanics, there was an article about a car-plane that passed all tests given by the FAA but was not approved by them. Why? One of the FAA folks said that “we wouldn’t be able to know what people are doing” if they could fly anywhere. That particular carplane cost about the same as an ordinary car, about $20,000 or *less*.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:42pmSo now we’ll have housewives talking on their cell phones and flying stupidly?
Report Post »Baja
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:11pm….and texting, fiddling with eye makeup, groping their bottomless purses, all while yelling at their kids and stuffing a Big Mac in their pie hole.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:26pmI see you know the ladies of which I speak!
Report Post »Baja
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 11:21pmWell Gonzo, I would like to say I know of them . . .
Report Post »Mattsbay18
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:41pmWhat’s next?…….Tax it!
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:39pmGreat for the super rich, useless for 99.9% of the planet, and unlike a lot of rich people toys, won’t lead to much innovation that will benefit the general public.
Report Post »Brannigans Law
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:56pmThat’s what I say! The horseless carriage will never replace a good horse. Besides, only Mr. Moneybags in the mansion down on Affluent Lane could ever afford to own one. You’ll never find an average Joe that can lay out the sort of money that a rich person can to get their own mobile phone either. I also promised I’d never replace my 8-track player with an expensive, hoity-toity CD thing-a-ma-jigger in my new truck that now costs as much as my house did way back when…
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:11pmZoom, right over your head. Planes will never be transportation for the average guy. Unlike abs brakes, active suspension, stabilizers in high end yachts, etc that eventually lead to safer cars for the masses, lower cost safer transportation for the masses, a car that converts into a plane, is basically worthless as far as advancing anything that will eventually make transportation safer or cheaper as far as the general public goes, it’s a useless toy for the rich, and nothing more.
Report Post »ReaganBaby
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 2:55pmThat’s what they said about cars before Ford came along and $15K flat panel tvs in the early 2000′s
Report Post »rpp
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:39pmLooks interesting. However, plane/automobiles have been done before and have never been a practical success.
Report Post »GoodStuff
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 1:38pmWell, Back to the Future II promised me flying cars by 2015, and I better have a flying car by then. Cubs winning the World Series? Never happen.
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