On Jan 22, 9:48*pm, Orval Fairbairn
wrote:
In article ,
*"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:



Little Endian wrote:

Quite interesting.. this sort of machine can bridge the gap between GA
and the practicality of using small airplanes for commuting.

"Either way, it boils down to this: You sit down behind the steering
wheel, drive to the runway, unfold two wings and take off. You can fly
500 miles on a tank of gas -- regular unleaded -- and when you land,
you simply fold up the wings and drive where you want to go. At the
end of the day, you fly back, drive home and park inside your garage."

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/0...lying-car.html

"A Boston-area company plans to begin flight tests this year of a two-seater
airplane that moonlights as a car."

Has the timetable slipped? *Wasn't the proof-of-concept vehicle supposed to
fly in 2008?

One thing for sure about "flying cars", "Skycars," etc. is that balonium
is NOT in short supply!

Yeah. Another attempt resulting in another lousy car and lousy
airplane. The two just aren't compatible in any efficient way. So many
compromises have to be made that they just don't make practical sense.
After more than 40 years of following such things I'm amazed that
people are still trying it.
Just think: One of these that's light enough to fly will have
rotten crashworthiness as a car. It will blow off the highway in a
strong crosswind. It will suffer awesome parking-lot damage. And it
will attract large numbers of curious tire-kickers that will damage
it.
So it won't be light at all, once it's strong enough to take
some abuse and has some resistance to being tossed around by the wake
of every passing semi. Its weight will make it a poor airplane with a
high stall speed. Adding to the weight will be the wing folding and
locking mechanisms, wheel drivers, sturdier tires and heavier brakes,
propeller clutches, cooling system (gotta keep it cool somehow with no
prop blast) and so forth. So many, many expensive compromises. That's
why Molt Taylor's Aerocar is in a museum and not found on used-car
lots.

Dan