Flying car on the streets within a year

Instead of intelligent domestic robots, time travelling DeLoreans or privacy invading techno-states, we have smart phones, Segway scooters and privacy invading social networking sites. It’s all a bit underwhelming.

But one small US company has forged ahead against the ebbing tide of human ambition and says it will soon bring to market one of the central nerdfantasies of the sci-fi age – the flying car. Or, in the words of Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, the “roadable airplane”.

Call it what you will, Terrafugia’s foldable-winged Transition ticks the basic boxes of the flying car genre – it flies, reaching an altitude of 1,400ft during the production prototype’s first flight on March 23, it drives – even on the highway – and it can fit in a standard single-car garage.

It may not look quite as awesome as its science fiction brethren – the world will have to wait for the first VTOL jump car – but the transition is real.

And with an estimated base price of US$279,000, it costs only $79,000 more than a ticket to five minutes of weightlessness on one of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flights.

What’s more, Terrafugia says its street-legal two-seater could begin deliveries within the next year, probably beating Sir Richard’s space ship into service. Terrafugia is already taking refundable $10,000 deposits and reportedly has had two orders from Australia. In other words, this flying car is almost a reality.

Following the Transition’s eight-minute first flight in Plattsburgh, New York Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich said: “With this flight, the team demonstrated an ability to accomplish what had been called an impossible dream.

“We look forward to continuing to show that the challenges of bringing a practical street-legal airplane to market can be overcome. ” Terrafugia – Latin for ‘Escape from Earth’ – was founded in 2006 by a group of aeronautical engineers and MBAs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take advantage of new FAA regulations creating the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) class of single-engine, easy-to-fly aeroplanes.

Sitting at the larger end of the LSA category, the Transition is built around a 100hp (75kW) Rotax 912ULS engine running on normal unleaded automotive fuel. Its aerial performance is modest with a maximum speed of 100kt and a cruising speed of 93kt but that’s still enough to shave about two hours off a typical five-hour highway drive. Flight range is 425nm.

The Transition’s road performance is a bit less clear.

Terrafugia hasn’t specified a top ground speed though it says the Transition will be highway-ready.

In any case, most users probably won’t venture beyond the road from their house to the airport – the ability to park the aircraft at home rather than pay for expensive hangar space is a key selling point. The option to drive your aircraft also provides a backup in case of bad weather.

In its earthbound state, the Transition is controlled by a traditional steering wheel, with standard accelerator and brake pedals among the four floor pedals.

Switched to flight mode, a joystick deploys between the driver’s legs – all joking aside – while the throttle is controlled via a centre-mounted lever. The other two floor pedals handle the rudder while the foldable wings deploy and retract via an electromechanical switch.

Standing 2m tall and 6m long, with the wings deployed the Transition’s width goes from 2. 3m to 8m.

The Rotax engine spins a carbon fibre driveshaft powering a rear propeller and on the ground, a rear-wheel drive chain. Fuel efficiency is surprisingly decent at 6. 7l/100km on the road and 18. 9l/h in the air.

And according to Mr Terrafugia, while the Transition probably won’t meet automobile emissions standards, it doesn’t have to because it’s classified as an aircraft.

But with a gross takeoff weight of only 650kg, the heftier among the flying car’s would-be pilots had best get on the diet train or plan on flying alone.

The aircraft weighs 440kg, leaving a useful load of 210kg, about 62kg of which will be taken up by a full load of 87 litres of fuel. That leaves only 148kg for passengers and cargo. So it’s just as well that the Transition’s cargo area, as Terrafugia puts it, “holds golf clubs”.

The low carrying capacity will limit the Transition’s practical appeal for many uses but practicality may not be the primary concern for many flying car early-adopters.

Longer term, the Transition has the potential to help open up personal aviation to a far broader market. All you really need is a place to park your aircraft and a minimum of 20 hours of flight training for your LSA licence.

And if 20 hours doesn’t turn out to be enough, the Transition can be outfitted with an optional full-aircraft parachute.