Flying Car Prepares for Test Drive

[Prrkitty]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479167,00.html

Quote: Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas at a cruising speed of 115 mph. Up to now, however, it has only been tested on roads at up to 90 mph.

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This looks very very promising. But I bet they'll over price it... if and when it gets to mass production.

[Radium]

I've seen that plane car around online, it looks neat. Kinda like the Aptera (http://aptera.com/) car (I am totally going to buy an Aptera!)

[The_Amaster]

*sigh* I'm tired of seeing really cool technologies that the inventors claim "will be available within one to two years". They never are. I remember four years ago when on the radio this one guy was predicting that we'd have super-thin TV and computer displays that you could roll up and fold "two, at most three years down the line"

Midn you, the flying car is pretty tight.

[Shazza Dani]

=[ That's not a car, it's a chubby plane.

This is a flying car:
http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/images/upload/Harry-Potter-Ride-4-web.jpg

[AtmaWeapon]

Oh boy, I can't wait for flying cars that cost a few hundred thousand dollars, require a pilot's license, and require me to negotiate a route with an air control tower so I can get to work in 5 minutes instead of 15 (not counting the pre-flight check and any maintenance it reveals)!

[Beldaran]

Oh boy, I can't wait for flying cars that cost a few hundred thousand dollars, require a pilot's license, and require me to negotiate a route with an air control tower so I can get to work in 5 minutes instead of 15 (not counting the pre-flight check and any maintenance it reveals)!

Right, because they couldn't possibly be used for fun.

[Russ]

Awesome! I hope this really does go on the market, unlike all the other stuff we've been promised.

[Modus Ponens]

Right, because they couldn't possibly be used for fun.

No kidding. I think it would just be fucking awesome to drive up to an airstrip, Go-Go Gadget Wings, fly to another airstrip, and drive away, all in the same vehicle. It would be so fucking awesome to fly from Seattle to Bellingham instead of drive! Shit, son. I want one.

[Beldaran]

I think Atma needs a vacation from work. If you seriously can't think of any use for a flying car other than shaving 10 minutes off your commute... go outside and re-think your life.

[Dechipher]

It'd be cool until we realize how horrible it is for the environment, combined with the fact that I'm pretty sure it's going to take a lot of work to get any kind of traffic system that works with these vehicles going.

[Beldaran]

I'm pretty sure it's going to take a lot of work to get any kind of traffic system that works with these vehicles going.

Who could ever conceive of such a vast and complex system? Here is what I imagine such a system might look like, if such a thing were even possible.

http://www.airport-technology.com/contractor_images/bae/1-air-traffic-control.jpg

http://www.armedforces-int.com/images/companies/963/air-traffic-control-1b.jpg

http://martyfahncke.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/air-traffic-control-map.gif

http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/engimages/esd_eq3.jpg

http://arl.co.nz/images/44.jpg

[Dechipher]

Yeah.
I dunno, that seems like an awful lot for me to just take my flying car down the street to the gas station.....

[Beldaran]

Yeah.
I dunno, that seems like an awful lot for me to just take my flying car down the street to the gas station.....

Oh, as opposed to the tiny, insignificant effort that went into the current road/traffic/parking/police/freeway/highway/bridge system? I mean sure, it's not like that took any work either.

[Dechipher]

Ah, but there is a difference between "Nothing is here, let's set up this system of public transport" and "We have a lot of shit in the way, but somehow we have to set up a way to make flying cars work in this environment"

I'm just saying.

[Breaker]

I think we'll see flying taxis before personal flying cars. If anything because of the security risk.

[Beldaran]

"We have a lot of shit in the way, but somehow we have to set up a way to make flying cars work in this environment"

Are you insinuating that our modern road system sprang up out of a vacuum? Because the reality is that there was a lot of shit in the way and engineers found a way to do it.

You sound like one of those people in the past who ridiculed inventions.

(circa 1902)
SCIENTIST: Someday, people will watch moving pictures on a box that receives them on invisible waves traveling through the air.

YOUR ANCESTOR: That sounds like too much god damned work. It will never happen. Ever. Nothing will ever change.

[Dechipher]

Logistically, there are a lot more issues that spring up with a bunch of dumbasses in flying vehicles than there with vehicles that only travel in two dimensions. Setting up a system for a combination of these vessels will be difficult, as I originally stated, not impossible.

[Breaker]

considering it runs on unleaded fuel, it won't exactly be able to fly long distances. in the US you'd have to be a certified pilot and take off from airports. it would be a recreational vehicle first and foremost.

[Modus Ponens]

Of course. I doubt it would ever mean being able to fly from your house down the street to the gas station. But it would be a terrifically fun recreational vehicle, as Brekkar has said. (And I'm sure there'll be some hotshot pilot who'll take off from a long, straight stretch of normal highway, only to pass the guy in front of him, and it'll be fucking awesome.)

[Beldaran]

a bunch of dumbasses in flying vehicles

With the increased danger and responsibility, I'm sure the requirements for licensing will be more stringent. It will hardly be "a bunch of dumbasses" flying around. Probably flight enthusiasts and other responsible characters.

[Breaker]

It'd be neat to jump on a shuttle/bus that drives to a local airport and immediately takes off.

[Dechipher]

With the increased danger and responsibility, I'm sure the requirements for licensing will be more stringent. It will hardly be "a bunch of dumbasses" flying around. Probably flight enthusiasts and other responsible characters.
What the fuck is the point of living in America if I can't even drive my goddamn flying car down to the gas station?

;)

[Saffith]

I remember four years ago when on the radio this one guy was predicting that we'd have super-thin TV and computer displays that you could roll up and fold "two, at most three years down the line"
http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/200901131207/ces-see-sonys-flexible-oled-screen-in-action.html
At this point, the only real problem there is the price. They haven't come up with a cheap enough way of producing large OLED panels yet.

[Anthus]

You know, it still drives too, apparently. This will, however, redefine drunk driving.

[Breaker]

I remember four years ago when on the radio this one guy was predicting that we'd have super-thin TV and computer displays that you could roll up and fold "two, at most three years down the line"

They have them. You just can't afford it.

[Daarkseid]

With the increased danger and responsibility, I'm sure the requirements for licensing will be more stringent. It will hardly be "a bunch of dumbasses" flying around. Probably flight enthusiasts and other responsible characters.

But this is just the problem isn't it? The idea behind the flying car was to give the same kinds of people who bought and used the automobile, average people, a flying device.

The only problem is that while automobiles eventually became affordable to people because the potential market was large enough to justify economies of scale for motorized vehicles, the potential market for flying cars isn't going to be anything more significant than the existing market for small aircraft. Precisely because of the dangers of air travel and requiring training for people.

So in the end, the only people who bother getting the licensing and training are the same ones who already do so today; professionals who operate small planes for business purposes and wealthy or otherwise affluent people who can already afford a small aircraft.

[Prrkitty]

But might the flying car be more enticeable for those wanting an easier/faster way to get around? Granted... it will be an expensive endeavor... but still an enticing one too.

[phattonez]

That thing reminds me so much of what Airbus uses when transporting things from one manufacturing plant to another.

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=60801&rendTypeId=4

[Prrkitty]

Yet another example of a flying car... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/14/flying.car/index.html

Ya just never know... one of these might be made available for the masses to use.

[Breaker]

Yet another example of a flying car... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/14/flying.car/index.html

Ya just never know... one of these might be made available for the masses to use.

have you read any part of the thread where we thoroughly explain why it could never be marketted to the masses. the average joe smith isn't going to get a license to fly, nor would you want to be driving around in your regular car while abunch of them are overhead. I'm sure this has been possible for many years, but practical? No.

[Breaker]

Yet another example of a flying car... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/14/flying.car/index.html

Ya just never know... one of these might be made available for the masses to use.


Something like that is much more practical since he's using a parachute and basically hopping. It's compact, no wings, and less likely for the FAA to interfer. In all likelyhood though, if "flying cars" are ever introduced to the public, it's NOT going to be in the United States for awhile... The government just doesn't trust us enough to keep ourselves safe.