Flying Car Makes Public Debut With Drive-to-Fly Demo

The last time TheBlaze reported on the futuristic flying car by Terrafugia in 2012, it had just completed its phase 1 testing. Fast forward to this week where "Transition" -- a car with folding wings -- has taken to the skies in its first flying debut for a public audience.

In this Monday, July 29, 2013 photo, the Terrafugia "roadable plane" folds up its wings after flying at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. (AP)

At the EAA AirVenture show in Wisconsin, Transition has made an appearance for several years, but this is the first year it showed spectators what it was made of, going from drive right into flight and back down again.

In this Monday, July 29, 2013 photo, the Terrafugia "roadable plane" flies during the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. (AP)

Check out the demo:

Here is footage of Transition in flight from the perspective of a camera on its wings:

"It's the convenience of having your car and plane in one package," Richard Gersh, Terrafugia's vice president of business development, said of the $279,000 car/plane, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's the next 'wow' car."

Terrafugia's website describes Transition as "a two-place, fixed wing, street legal airplane" designed to safely drive on a highway and fit in a single car garage.

"It brings a new level of freedom, flexibility and fun to personal aviation and is available for pilots to reserve today," the website stated.

CNET's Daniel Terdiman reported being at the air show and witnessing the seamless transition from flight, landing and pulling up its wings into driving.

"Though it's not clear exactly who would want to buy this early version of what would formerly have been a sci-fi fantasy -- or at least little more than a concept -- there's no doubt that the crowd of aviation enthusiasts here were eager to see if the Transition could actually fly," Terdiman wrote. "And though it didn't pull off the kind of intense air maneuvers that many of the other planes taking part in the show thrilled the audience with, it definitely delivered on its promise."

The plane, which has a top cruising altitude of 100 miles per hour, is not expected to make it to the public until at least 2015. A pilot license will be required to fly Transition.

In January of this year, Terrafugia reported gaining more than 100 pre-orders for the plane.

--

[related]