Flying Car Landing in NYC: Terrafugia Transition Will Debut At Auto Show
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Terrafugia
No, that’s not a picture from a 2012 remake of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
It’s Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft, and it’s going to make its first public appearance at the New York Auto Show next month.
The Massachusetts-based company has been talking about its flying car (though it looks more like a truck) since 2006, but it will be officially showing it to the public for the first time from April 6 through 15 at the Javits Center in New York City.
The Transition won’t actually be flying into Manhattan; it will be transported in a trailer and shown indoors at the convention center.
However, says the company, the first street-legal airplane is currently being tested in an undisclosed location. The car-turned-aircraft has folding wings, a propeller, and a range of 425 nautical miles in the air. Terrafugia says it is compact enough to be driven on regular streets, and then, at an airstrip, it can unfold its wings and take off.
And it’s not just a pipe dream. Terrafugia says it expects the Transition to be ready for sale by the end of the year. The anticipated base purchase price is $279,000 and “roughly 100 aircraft have been reserved,” a company spokesperson told ABC News.
- Terrafugia
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Pipe dream. Most people now don’t have the common sense to fit into the current airspace system. They’d be killing themselves on a regular basis. Wait a minute! Maybe they’re onto something.
Posted by: newcountryman | March 1, 2012, 5:48 pm 5:48 pm
……Dumbo tried to fly, the Japanese beat him to it.
Posted by: RP---STAR | March 1, 2012, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
You can’t just “fly it off the lot”, you need to get your Sport Pilot certificate first.
Posted by: Bob Z | March 1, 2012, 5:57 pm 5:57 pm
Well, I’m sure you’d still need to be a current and qualified private pilot. I’d be interested to see how they produced a vehicle heavy enough to meet road safety standards while making a plane light enough to fly.
Posted by: propwash72 | March 1, 2012, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
Given how most people drive I wouldn’t take it out on the street. given how most people drive I wouldn’t want to be in the air with bunches of them. Until or unless they can make a fool proof vehicle for fools on the ground it is best to keep them there.
Posted by: Tim C | March 1, 2012, 6:20 pm 6:20 pm
Air rage?
Posted by: newcountryman | March 1, 2012, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm
Flying cars are a cute idea but there are so many problems that they will never be more than a gimmick. For instance if you replaced just 1% of cars on the rode in the US there would literally be more aircraft in the air in 1 day than Ohare airport sees in an entire year. You might think that it would save you time by bypassing highways… The problem is, first you won’t be able to route flying cars over people’s homes so you’ll still be restricted to certain routes. So you’re back on the highway you’re simply on a highway in the air. You might think that’s okay because you could have multiple levels. But can you imagine what happens when you have a flying car fall about a busy highway whether on the land or sky? So flying cars would need their own routes separate from land vehicles and away from buildings. You would need to convert all land cars to flying cars at one time just so you could be stuck on the air highway.
Posted by: glacia | March 1, 2012, 9:23 pm 9:23 pm
newcountryman, you will have to take off and land at an airport, just like conventional planes. No one will be flying over highways or landing on the interstate. I don’t see the practical use of this flying car. Unless you have a small airport near your home or where you work, you will still be in rush hour traffic. You will have to drive to the airport in traffic. Once you get there you will be able to takeoff and fly to another airport, where you will land, then drive on the road to your destination. I’m a pilot of light aircraft and I can’t see where there will be a large number of these flying cars in a given area. But as I said you can’t take off or land on the street or fields. There isn’t enough room, it’s very dangerous and unsafe, plus the FAA will never allow it. You can’t even do this in helicopters. You have to have an approved landing pad at your workplace to land there, and you will not likely get permission to take off from your backyard or driveway.
Posted by: brian p | March 2, 2012, 1:21 am 1:21 am
I can see how this might be convenient for someone traveling on business or a vacation…they can save by not having to rent a car at their destination. The thing is, if you can afford one of these, you wouldn’t be worried about such issues. I wonder, does it use plain old unleaded gasoline in both modes?
Posted by: Arf40 | March 2, 2012, 11:45 am 11:45 am
The use is.. saving money. This plane will NOT require one to rent hanger space.. you just keep it at ‘home,’ or wherever.
Posted by: John Friedson | March 2, 2012, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm
yes, it uses regular unleaded gas!!!!!!! amazing.
Posted by: john | March 28, 2012, 3:20 pm 3:20 pm
I’m sure people had a lot of negative comments about the “transition” from the horse to the automobile as primary sources of transportation as well.
Posted by: Thatdrummerguy | April 7, 2012, 9:29 am 9:29 am