The latest flying car may indeed be both a crappy car and a crappy plane, but
that's not the problem. Plenty of people drive crappy cars and get plenty of
utility out of them without even being able to fly, and plenty of others fly
crappy planes that are not roadable and still don't complain.

The main problem is that the car/plane will have to take off from airport
runways and park in car parking spaces. Perhaps in the 1950's it was possible
to imagine a car/plane that would take off from the local school baseball field
with the whole community waving you off (holding balloons and licking
ice-cream cones), but try mentioning today bringing a flying vehicle anywhere
near a school, or any other populated area! So, you have to use airports. By
the time you've driven your crappy car to the airport, gotten permissions,
gotten the gate open and onto the airfield, gotten out and done your pre-flight
you haven't really saved any time compared to getting a cab to the airport to
get into a real airplane. And here's where the crappy plane scenario comes in,
because now you're going to lose any time you may have gained because of your
slow cruise speed.

In other words, they've invented a cell phone that you have to go to a phone
booth to use!

On the other end of the equation, you land and get out of the airport - now
what are you going to do? Drive into town? Park it at a meter? In a parking
lot? What do you do when someone bumps into it, or even opens their door into
your plane? Get it appraised? Have an A&P opinion before flying? What about
when they break in to steal all the avionics? Happens every day to car owners
who have nothing other than a radio, so it will obviously happen to a basket
full of goodies like a flying car. Basically, anything you fly in has no
business leaving the protected environment of the airport.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I feel the utility of a flying car today is
about comparable to that of a quick-release bathtub.




In article ,
says...



Tech Support wrote in message
.. .
Here is the latest flying car.


http://www.news-gazette.com/news/pri...s_create_car_t
hats_literally_taking_off


If it used anti-gravity would probably be a winner.


Yet another proof that the idea results in a vehicle which is both a crappy
car and a crappy airplane. I'm sure it won't be the last.

--
Dan

T182T at 4R4