Terrafugia Flying Car Approved by FAA, Will Be Available Next Year

great, now i've got to look out for some jerk that wants to cut me off from above and not just the usual left or right lane.

Time to reinforce the roof of my house.

why dont i believe the thirty miles to the gallon part? how can having folded up wings not ruin your gas mileage

They are streamlined wings...:D

How true.

Well sign me up when the offer an all electric one with 500 mile range and a $25,000 price!

To bad they didn't make a truck version of that.

I cant wait to see the look on the cops face when he tries to pull me over and I go skyward!

"why dont i believe the thirty miles to the gallon part? how can having folded up wings not ruin your gas mileage"

its a freaking plane! light with extremely low drag, folded wings wont ruin it. im surprised it doesnt do better than 30

great, as if today's bad drivers weren't enough to deal with, ON LAND oh well

Can the wings unfold while the vehicle is moving? Would make an awesome get-away car.

That's a car to break free from road limits. It looks handy and quite small, but I would prefer electric to, with some glider abilities and parachute, for car and pilot if (when) something goes wrong. Specially if car gets damaged on the ground, parts failing in the air.
I think they developed flying cars back in 70', without folded wings, airbags, but design was kind of more attractive, with that funny old style.
I also remember flying saucers, driven by tilting turbines around the surface, it wasn't so stable or something, but it could hover at place.
Interesting aerodynamics, with propeller on the back, some additional jet pack engines would be nice, like NOS in cars, if structure could support it, to get really fast from A to B.
What is missing, is point C, where you could stop for a drink an rest a bit, look at the sitings. with commercial billboards and so on. For Cloud city, some other kind of flayers would have to be developed, perhaps ionocrafts with attached flying cars, now when evolution and research has begone.

I swear Xspot always writes the most ridiculous stuff.

I'm still waiting for battery technology to advance enough for the NASA Puffin. Which, by the way, looks like loads more fun to fly. Won't drive anywhere after you land it but you can almost land within walking distance of wherever you want. Sooooo....

That thing really is quite ugly but I wish them the best of luck. Perhaps in 20 years the thing will be cuter and faster.

it seems like this:

" http://www.toyarchive.com/Filmation/FilmationIcon1.gif "

:))

Interesting concept ! Terra....what ?
Perhaps a meeting with branding company for a look at names with a 21st century ring to it ?

Looks a little like George Jetson's car! Too bad it doesn't fold up into a briefcase!

Wow I hate all of the naysayers that comment on this website. You are all the biggest fucking losers ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is an awesome invention. Good luck to terrafugia

If you use this as a getaway car expect to have some F-16's on your tail.....or I guess you could always "hit the brakes and they'll fly right by".

You stop at McDonald's for a cup of coffee. You head off down the highway and lift off, your cell phone rings and you don't have your Bluetooth in your ear, you fumble with it, drop the cell phone, spill your coffee on your lap, flail around under your seat for your cell phone and BAM! Right into the Chrysler Building.

They guy on the flying Harley just laughs at you as he roars by.

Can you imagine a teenager texting while "flyving"?

Oh. Hey! That reminds me of the time my daughter made our new Porsche into a boat ... which then became a submarine.

im specially concerned with how the flying car managed to take off, does it share just exactly the same takeoff mechanism as traditional plane do?

anyone who knows the detailed principles plz alarm me by emailing at : 261068445@qq.com

many thanks!

For those wondering where the heck they got the name "Terrafugia", I believe it comes from Latin "terra" (earth, land) + "fugere" (to flee). (Think "fugitive", for example.) Thus, the name roughly means "one that can flee the land." Quite apt, I think.

The insurance premiums for this will be "sky high" as well.What in any other vehicle would be a fender-bender will be a write-off in this thing.

Good luck in this economy... wait the rich are still rich this should go over well.

All that nicey-nice history lesson and marketing stuff is lame. Who is starting the racing league? 48 hours at LeMans. Paris to Dakar to Milan. What will one of these do on nitromethane? Is it a car that my wife could parallel park?

That 460 lb. payload is a real deal killer, though. Couldn't fly down to the store for ice, beer, and briquettes unless I was either out of gas, or alone.

Darn I was sort of pulling for the Moller Sky Car to come out commercially first simply because their engine concept is neat and the body design is very sleek. Apparently their money mismanagement has set them back...but if/when they get their flying cars on the market they will be much cheaper than these and are slightly more fuel efficient. PLUS the Sky Car can hover, has a much longer range, can hold more weight and flies way faster.

Glad to see this idea re-visited ! I remember as a child, watching a Saturday morning sit-com involving the 1950's-60's Aerocar, dreaming of owning a flying car someday. Henry Ford predicted in the 1920's that flying cars were a "Wave of the Future" After the success of Terrafugias' vehicle, maybe the "Great Blue Father", (FORD) will compete with what is bound to be the next evolution of personal transportation! Talk about the ultimate commuter!! Ideal living areas are seldom where lucrative work is ,right? Anyhow good luck Terrafugia! Hopefully your price will drop soon after introducing it to the public. You're on my wish list! rgalle1 aka 'Rogalgumer'
PS: It's ok Grantnyc, Naysayers just have no imagination.

Last I heard you need a license to fly a plane...so there should not be anyone flying that has not had the proper training (one hopes). It is a pretty neat idea. I'm sure you would have to stop to extend the wings, so "getaway car" isn't really plausable. But it is fascinating to see it actually be available. Wish the price were lower to start.

Quasi44 got it right. Rich folk bought cars and airplanes in their early days for exotic racing and exploration escapades.
The time is right to bring back such fun.
However, we don't live in a free world anymore. Taxation, regulation and litigation have completely replaced what we used to call fun.
So now, I'm afraid, the best we could do is turn one of these into a Monster Truck and crush pre-airbag/non emission-controlled cars at tax-subsidized sports stadiums.
Sigh...

Give me liberty, or give me...MY MONEY BACK!

For those worried about this car landing on top of you while you are driving down I-95, well don't worry. This vehicle will still have to follow all the FAA regulations regarding airspace and airport usage. In other words, it will be REQUIRED to take off and land at established airports, not just flop down wings along the highway and soar into the wild blue yonder. Since a minimum of a sport pilot's licence will be required, any would-be pilot of this car-plane will have to at least have training to that point (i.e. have the licence in accordance with 14 CFR Part 61 Subpart J), and will have to be checked out in this specific vehicle by a qualified instructor before even thinking about flying in it. Then he or she will have to abide by all the rules governing the operation of aircraft (14 CFR Part 91. You can look these regs up at www.faa.gov if you want some dry reading!) You only time you MIGHT see one of these cars landing on the road in front of you is when it is performing an EMERGENCY landing (such as loss of engine power). You definitely WILL NOT see them taking off in front of you. That is unless you are driving along the runway of your local airport. But then YOU would be in violation of any number of regulations and laws by being on the runway in the first place!

Okay, for all those worried about one of these landing on your house or car, and for those of you who think this would make a great get-away vehicle (?!?!?), I will try to combine and sum up what sr76blackbird, atkreis, and cnsollman all intelligently commented as follows:
1st: I really doubt the wings can be folded or unfolded during motion. I'm sure that the vehicle would have to be in whatever passes for its form of 'park' before this could occur. So, so much for taking off into the wild blue yonder when being pursued by the police. ;)
2nd: It stated very clearly in the article that a SPORT PILOTS LICENSE was required to fly this. Now, unless the individual suddenly decides they don't wish to fly, again...EVER, they will follow all FAA rules and regulations. No landing (except in emergency) on highways or residential areas. No taking off from those places, either. Unless it's from the runway of an airport that happens to be located in a residential area.
3rd: It seems to me to be a bit on the pricey side for your standard 'get-away' vehicle. As gort60 stated, the insurance premiums would be quite high on top of the cost of the vehicle, so I really don't think anyone would want to be using this for a crime spree. After all, fighter jets can be scrambled in less than 10 mins and I'm sure they can fly quite a bit faster than this craft. I don't think anyone would want to get shot out of the sky for holding up a 7-11. Besides, why would you need to? If you can afford the cost of the craft AND the outrageous insurance, you obviously are rich enough to not need to go on a crime spree from which you would need said 'get-away' vehicle. ;)
4th (and last): You COULD take off from a rural home-made runway. Ultralight (no license needed for these) and Sport class aircraft (Sport Pilot's License required) are allowed to take off and land from private rural runways, such as on farms or pastures, or small-town airport runways, which are usually used for nothing more than crop dusting. This means that there are virtually an unlimited number of safe places to fly to and from.
I, myself, would prefer the Mollor Aircar as it has the capability to take off, fly, and land automatically and vertically virtually anywhere, no licence required except to drive it when land-bound. And it will be cheaper, I think.

The one Bo and Luke Duke had was way cooler.

I'll just wait for teleportation. It won't be long. Really. Flying cars are here, teleportation has to be next....

I saw the Terrafugia Transition prototype at Oshkosh (sorry, AirVenture) a couple years ago and was impressed. I even bought a bumper sticker that says: "My next car will be an airplane". I talked to one of the people developing the craft and he said the prototype showed them a bunch of things they needed to change before producing the car. One of the changes they made to the original was to add an airbag system. That's too bad. It added a LOT of extra weight, which caused the "useful load" to drop to 430 pounds.

You can buy it with a ballistic recovery parachute which makes it, potentially at least, safer than a Cessna or a 737. The wings will ONLY fold or unfold while the vehicle is stopped, and they'll ONLY unfold if you punch the correct code into an onboard keypad. The engine can only drive the propeller OR the front wheels, never both. Also, the propeller will NOT spin unless the wings are unfolded. I was especially interested in how they worked out the locking mechanism for the wings. I could just see a wind gust or some other drastic change in wing-loading causing the wing(s) to buckle or fold up. I was really impressed by the answer I got from the guy (which I can't remember now but which seemed to make perfect sense to me at the time).

A concern I DO have is how it will fare in cross-wind landings. It isn't often that the wind cooperates by coming straight at you down the runway. With four wheels, could you still "crab" the craft into the wind, or would you have to be good at landing on two wheels (Joey Chitwood style)?

The Transition isn't a practical idea for most people. Remember, it is NOT a flying CAR, it's a "roadable AIRCRAFT". You and I can't just walk into a Terrafugia dealership and fly away in one. It takes a minimum of 20 hours of flight time AND successfully passing an FAA checkride to be able to fly it. Hmm, that begs the question: "who will train the trainers (aka flight instructors) in the first place?" I doubt this thing flies like a "normal plane", so it makes sense that a person who gives lessons in a Cessna, for instance, might need some time in this type before he/she is competent to teach someone else.

It is hard to serve two masters, so will the Transition suck as a plane or it will suck as a car (hopefully not both)? It has a small payload so if you put a couple 200 pounders in the cockpit and took on a reasonable amount of fuel, on a 55 degree day, at sea level, without any humidity, you MIGHT both be able to bring along your wallets. If it was a hot day and/or a humid day and/or you weren't flying from a runway at sea level, you might be flying alone (or with a quarter-full fuel tank).

I DO think it would be nice to be able to drive part or all of the way home from a trip if the weather gets bad. At least you wouldn't have to stay grounded until the weather clears. However, is that worth the large pricetag?

All my rambling aside, I already have my tickets to AirVenture (18 more days, woo hoo!) and can't wait to see the finished product. Maybe I'll even get to see it fly.

PS for Lakusus, did I misunderstand your statement about how you wouldn't need a license to fly a Moller M400X Skycar? I don't see how that could be. You even need a license to (legally) fly ultralights and powered parachutes nowadays.

Now is it just me, or did any of the rest of you notice that the wheels are out in flight....
Oh man, this would be absolutely awesome in rural areas! But as much as I want one I'll wait till 3.0 comes out.

It's a shame it's so ugly. And 416lbs service load INCLUDING fuel? That allows you to fly to the corner store I guess.

What i find amusing, is that a friend and i were drawing flying cars in elementary school. Although the cars I drew had wings that slid out from the car chassis (hidden in drawer like things), the cars still manages to look like lamborghinis than anything else. And the "accessories" we added to them... lol

I cant wait til I can buy one. I hope they dont add restrictions againt colorblind people. I already cant fly fighter jets, I'd hate to be banned from these too.

Guess we'd all better enlarge our sunroofs, huh?

i dont care a bout price but i will get one it combines my two favoet things flying and driving unusual cars

And it has a Ballistic Recovery System (BRS), which means that a parachute can deploy to bring the entire aircraft slowly down.