Terrafugia Transition, World's First Flying Car, Prepares For Takeoff

IS it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it's both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.

If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months' time.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[totaldisbelief]

It's not the first flying car.

[DMcD]

Thats right --- I keep seeing this erroneous headline everywhere. There have been many over the years. There was even one in a Rodger Moore - James Bond film from the 70's or 80's.

[jan4insight]

And. like, the world really needs this? NOT!

[DMcD]

Ya' , I'm not too sure about all this either. This gives "defensive driving" a whole new meaning. Not only do we have to keep an eye out for the kooks on the road , but the ones over our heads as well.

[jerryfromcalifornia]

I want one.

[SneathLane]

When I was a little boy, in the late 50's or early 60's, a "flying car" on it's way to a car show in L.A. came through my small town. The car and it's detachable wings were on a truck, so we didn't see it in action, but it predated this effort by 50 years or so.

When you hire young people to write your headlines, please make sure that they understand that quite a lot happened before they were born, and that they need to take all that stuff into account when they write their headlines. Just because something is new to them doesn't mean it's new, which is a difficult lesson for some people to learn.

[totaldisbelief]

here here

[publicmenace]

I like the Jetson's model better. No wings.

[WilliePilgrim]

I think this is a marvelous design if it performs the way the manufacturer says it will. While not likely to be very practical for most urban and sub-urban situations, we shouldn't overlook that out west and in remote regions there are huge distances, empty skies and lots of uncrowded roadways. An efficient way to travel in areas like these is a legitimate use for these craft and could do quite a bit for civil aviation and the future that looms just over the horizon where computers and satellites will synegistically combine to take advantage of the nascent "highways of the skies" and thus break the deadlock that large metropolitan hub airports currently have on our air transportation. I recall reading Atlantic Magazine's James Fallows' article on this emerging aspect to transportation a few years back. Worth re-reading I think. No longer having to go to a miserable, humiliating, extravagantly expensive (in terms of time and energy) central hub for air transportation would benefit us all. Air travel is by far the safest form of transport we have these days and I wish this company and others eyeing the same prize, godspeed.

[Ged2012]

A jet pack which runs on a turbine and not burn our butts is more reasonable.

[kid5rivers2]

Bah! Humbug!

[clumberfeet]

Perhaps 101st flying car.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=flying+car&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1

[lovethesinner]

This story is so sad. It reveals the perversity of capitalism. The guys who designed this thing are former NASA engineers, and instead of spending their time trying to design a realistic form of transportation for the 21st century, THAT COULD END OUR RELENTLESS RAPE OF THE PLANET, they made a TOY for RICH PEOPLE.

And since this thing is never really meant to be taken seriously, it's even sadder because they must have only done it so they could say they'd done it, and put a few buck in their pocket. (check out their website, it looks like they let their kids put it together)

http://www.terrafugia.com/

Serving nothing more than their own selfish pride. (sometimes I think the asteroid can't come soon enough.)

[WilliePilgrim]

Yeah, why couldn't they invent a kind of shoe-horn so we can cram more people into those tubular busses with wings we call airplanes. Oh what joy!
At 200K it sounds like a lot but that depends on its life span. If you live out in remote areas this thing could save a lot of energy and time,thereby saving resources, or should everybody just move into one single large soviet style apartment complex to save the planet?

[nobozos]

Oh lighten up.
You probably ride a bicycle everywhere, right?
This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time, and out here in Idaho, where our cities and towns are hundreds of miles apart, I'd LOVE to be able to afford one. Actually, the price is not out of many people's range, maybe a good used one down the road for me........

[jahzilla]

"World's first?"

Who's doing your editing, Piper Palin?

[Name Not In Use]

Here it is:

http://www.robbreport.com/archived-issues/Article.aspx?article=11936

[Name Not In Use]

Bob Cummings had a flying car on the "Love That Bob" show.

[Mort]

With all the idiots on the road now, I can't imagine how bad it'd be if they were all fighting for airspace while yacking on the phone, putting on makeup and all the other stuff that seems to be more important than driving.

[Liberalicious]

Yawn....ca­ll me when you can hover-convert my VW Bug. And get me a Mr. Fusion to power the flux capacitor, while you're at it.