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Flying cars are GO! The Terrafugia Tranfusion is on its way!
America’s aviation authorities have given the flying car the go-ahead to start developing.
It’s officially classified as a light sport aircraft, and that means the Transition requires a sport pilot certificate to fly and is designed to drive on public roadways and park in a standard garage but you would need to take off from a “runway” at an airport.
The car/plane’s wings take a minute to unfold for flying and when you land, they fold back up for driving and you park it at home in your garage.
The plane is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet.
The first delivery will be late next year.
Founded by five pilots who are graduates of MIT, Terrafugia’s mission is “the innovative expansion of personal mobility. “Terrafugia” is Latin for “escape from land.”
The company says it got an exemption from the FAA to allow a maximum takeoff weight of 650 kg. This additional weight accommodates the structure and equipment necessary for compliance with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards which are not found in such planes. Items such as “airbags, an energy absorbing crumple zone, and a protective safety cage will increase safety both on the road and in the air.”
Their website:
3 Comments
The inability of many to control vehicles on the road makes it a bit of a worry to think of cars flying!! However, reading the detail this is really an aeroplane you can drive on the road rather than a flying car and the appropriate pilots licence is necessary
Exactly. These things will never “take off” until computer/remote guidance and autmatic collision avoidance is so good that you would allow a teenager to “drive” one through the air. Then you can lose the pilot license too.
Before that, it will remain a niche market.
Before this ever “takes off” they will need a simple version of the “TCAS” system.