Shape of things to comeWorld's first flying car debuts

Published 18 March 2009

Massachusetts-based Terrafugia flight-tests its Terrafugia Transition, the world’s first proper flying car (or “roadable aircraft” as the company prefers to call it)

Flying cars used to be the stuff of James Bond movies. In “The Man with the Golden Gun,” MI5’s Q Branch equips James Bond with a car that can fly: The AMC Matador coupe allowed Bond to fly from Bangkok to an island in the China Sea, where the bad guys Francisco Scaramanga and Nick Nack were holding Mary Goodnight hostage. Now flying cars are here. Last month (4 February 2009 HS Daily Wire) we wrote about a company called Tarrafugia, established by MIT alumni to produce a flying car. The Terrafugia Transition “roadable aircraft” has just made its first test flight. Terrafugia says that the flight took place on 5 March. Pictures of the flight are available on the company’s Web site.

Company test pilot Phil Meteer, a retired air force colonel, is quoted by AVWeb as saying: “The first flight was remarkably unremarkable. I’ve flown several thousand hours in everything from Piper Cubs to F-16s, and the Transition flew like a really nice airplane.”

Lewis Page writes that the Transition is a light two-seater aircraft intended to fit within the new U.S.“light sport” category. A light-sport pilot’s license is easier and cheaper to acquire than a normal private pilot’s ticket, and medical red tape is reduced. Cruise airspeed of 115 knots is expected, range of 450 miles, and “highway speed” on the ground.

The Transition has most of the weaknesses of light aircraft, in that it can not easily be flown through poor weather, bad visibility, or restricted airspace (as found above cities, for instance). Users needing to get through such obstacles will need to land at a suitable strip nearby, just as a normal private pilot in a Piper Tomahawk might.

The difference is what happens next. The Transition driver has no concern with finding an aircraft parking spot, getting hold of taxi, or renting a car. Instead, he or she presses a button. The wings fold up in less than thirty seconds, and the Transition drives out of the airport gate and makes the rest of the journey by road. If the weather gets worse and a takeoff for the return flight is impossible, no bother — simply drive home on the ground, all the way if necessary.

Terrafugia still has the process of light-sport certification before it, and road-legal clearance from the National Highways and Transportation Safety Administration. The Transition, however, has already undergone extensive ground tests, and company execs seem confident.

This breakthrough changes the world of personal mobility,” Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich told AVWeb. “Travel now becomes a hassle-free integrated land-air experience. It’s what aviation enthusiasts have been striving for since 1918.”

The military is also interested in flying cars. DARPA hopes its “Personal Air Vehicle Technology” project, announced last year, will ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car — a two-to-four passenger vehicle that can drive on roads one minute, and take off like a helicopter the next (see 13 November 2008 HS Daily Wire).