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What Happened To The Dream Of The Flying Car?

What Happened To The Dream Of The Flying Car?

Since the Wright brothers had their first successful test flight at Kitty Hawk, people began to dream of a future in which we could take to the skies to get to work and back. Science and science fiction had already set the bar high dating back as far as da Vinci. The sad fact is that little progress has been made in over a hundred years toward that goal. Here we are in 2019, still driving around like a bunch of savages! The good news is that with the convergence of advancements in materials, software, and new regulations we may be seeing the realization of this dream sooner than later.

There are a lot of obstacles to overcome in building either a flying car or a drivable aircraft. How would it take off? What would you do with the wings? How would you avoid a mid-air collision and what would happen if one occurred? There are actually a few companies working on these issues, and they've come up with some interesting solutions.

The makers of the Terrafugia Transition have created a drivable aircraft from lightweight materials that can transition from a standard engine to a read propellor. It also has wings that fold up in two places, making driving easier. It also has the best of modern avionic hardware and software. Currently the prototype has several successful flights.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been working on a flying car for about a decade now, and with their current iteration, they maybe very close to making it viable. The DARPA Transformer sounds like a dream. Their specifications call for a tactical vehicle that can hold four people and can fly or drive on command. On the ground, it is to drive like an SUV. In the air if must be able to take off and land vertically and maintain an air speed equal to light aircraft while flying. It must also have automatic takeoff and landing software, allowing nearly anyone to pilot the vehicle. Of all of the models in current development, this one seems to be the most advanced...and shockingly the most likely to be seen in the near future. Unfortunately as with most military technologies, it may be some time until we see it in the private sector.

The LaBiche FSC-1 looks a lot like what you'd expect to see James Bond flying around in from the 80's. It's got some amazing specs. A 450 HP engine and a body that screams sports car, it is expected to be capable of 180 MPH on the ground and 275 MPH in the air. The wings and aerial accouterments look a little unwieldily, but as they go through prototype phases, they may get that ironed out a little more.

From what we've seen, it looks like we may actually see a vehicle that we can drive to the airport and take off from there. Therein lies one of the issues. With current regulations, you'll still need to take off and land at an airport or private airstrip.

Another issue is service. It could become prohibitively expensive to routinely maintenance a flying vehicle. As our partner at Service King Deer Valley here in Phoenix AZ pointed out, body damage incurred from takeoffs and landings could be very expensive as well.

Think the costs of both an auto body repair combined with a plane repair and add the cost of repairing or replacing the sensors and cameras needed to operate and you may have an idea of how much it may cost. Hopefully these issues will be addressed along with the streamlining of development and production. All I know is this: movies and books over the last hundred years have made a promise I desperately want to see realized.

Written By: Todd Hendrickson
Source: howstufworks.com

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