The Flying CAR
Rabu, 04 April 2012 by Android Blackberry
The flying auto
Flying vehicles are not just science fiction anymore.
Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia Inc. stated Monday that its prototype flying car or truck has completed its very first flight, bringing the business closer to its target of selling the flying automobile within the subsequent year. The vehicle - dubbed the Transition - has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it may be driven like a auto. Last month, it flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes. Commercial jets fly at 35,000 feet.
Around 100 people today have already put down a $10,000 deposit to acquire a Transition once they go on sale, and these numbers will probably rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition towards the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t anticipate it to show up in too several driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.
And it will not enable if you are stuck in targeted traffic. The auto wants a runway.
The flying car has normally had a particular place in the American imagination. Inventors happen to be attempting to produce them considering that the 1930s, based on Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst who owns R.W. Mann & Co. in Port Washington, N.Y.
But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has currently granted the company’s request to use special tires and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the automobile to fly. The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add about six pounds for the automobile. The Transition is currently going through a battery of automotive crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann stated Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft. The standards govern the size and speed of the plane and licensing requirements for pilots, which are less restrictive than requirements for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a relatively low hurdle for pilots.
The Transition can reach about 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 inside the air, spokesman Steven Moscaritolo mentioned. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of automotive fuel and burns 5 gallons per hour within the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Mann questions the size of the market for the Transition. The general aviation market has been in decline for two decades, he stated, largely because of fuel costs and the high price of liability for manufacturers. Also, fewer folks are learning how to fly.
“This is not going to be an inexpensive aircraft to produce or market,” he mentioned. “It has some uniqueness, and will get some sales, but the question is, could it ever be a profitable enterprise?”
Mann sees the western U.S. as the most probably market, where people could fly instead of driving long distances.
Terrafugia has been working on flying automobiles given that 2006, and has already pushed back the launch once. Final summer the company said it would have to delay expected 2011 deliveries due to design challenges and problems with parts suppliers.
With the appearance in New York, the company hopes to attract the eye of customers as well as investors.
“We are introducing ourselves as a viable firm towards the automotive world,” Moscaritolo stated.
Flying vehicles are not just science fiction anymore.
Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia Inc. stated Monday that its prototype flying car or truck has completed its very first flight, bringing the business closer to its target of selling the flying automobile within the subsequent year. The vehicle - dubbed the Transition - has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it may be driven like a auto. Last month, it flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes. Commercial jets fly at 35,000 feet.
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| This March 23, 2012 photo provided by Terrafugia Inc. shows the company's prototype flying car, dubbed the Transition, during its first flight. The vehicle has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car, and flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes during the test. Commercial jets fly at 35,000 feet |
Around 100 people today have already put down a $10,000 deposit to acquire a Transition once they go on sale, and these numbers will probably rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition towards the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t anticipate it to show up in too several driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.
And it will not enable if you are stuck in targeted traffic. The auto wants a runway.
The flying car has normally had a particular place in the American imagination. Inventors happen to be attempting to produce them considering that the 1930s, based on Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst who owns R.W. Mann & Co. in Port Washington, N.Y.
But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has currently granted the company’s request to use special tires and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the automobile to fly. The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add about six pounds for the automobile. The Transition is currently going through a battery of automotive crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann stated Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft. The standards govern the size and speed of the plane and licensing requirements for pilots, which are less restrictive than requirements for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a relatively low hurdle for pilots.
The Transition can reach about 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 inside the air, spokesman Steven Moscaritolo mentioned. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of automotive fuel and burns 5 gallons per hour within the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Mann questions the size of the market for the Transition. The general aviation market has been in decline for two decades, he stated, largely because of fuel costs and the high price of liability for manufacturers. Also, fewer folks are learning how to fly.
“This is not going to be an inexpensive aircraft to produce or market,” he mentioned. “It has some uniqueness, and will get some sales, but the question is, could it ever be a profitable enterprise?”
Mann sees the western U.S. as the most probably market, where people could fly instead of driving long distances.
Terrafugia has been working on flying automobiles given that 2006, and has already pushed back the launch once. Final summer the company said it would have to delay expected 2011 deliveries due to design challenges and problems with parts suppliers.
With the appearance in New York, the company hopes to attract the eye of customers as well as investors.
“We are introducing ourselves as a viable firm towards the automotive world,” Moscaritolo stated.
