flying car (again)

"make the transition today" - they say:
http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html

#m

On Mar 21, 7:38*pm, Martin Hotze wrote:
"make the transition today" - they say:http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft..html

#m

There was an item on TV about it.
The rate of climb left a LOT to be desired

"george" wrote in message
...
On Mar 21, 7:38 pm, Martin Hotze wrote:
"make the transition today" - they
say:http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html


There was an item on TV about it.
The rate of climb left a LOT to be desired

Hmmm; I didn't even know it had flown. Their web page does not address
climb rate, but 50-foot clearance takeoff distance is listed at 1700',
which compares well to the 152's book value of 1820'.

Considering that they claim the final product will be light enough to
qualify as an LSA yet roadable, I am quite impressed so far. Given the
history of such projects, being impressed is not the same as predicting
success though.

Vaughn

In article
,
"vaughn" wrote:

"george" wrote in message
...
On Mar 21, 7:38 pm, Martin Hotze wrote:
"make the transition today" - they
say:http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html


There was an item on TV about it.
The rate of climb left a LOT to be desired

Hmmm; I didn't even know it had flown. Their web page does not address
climb rate, but 50-foot clearance takeoff distance is listed at 1700',
which compares well to the 152's book value of 1820'.

Considering that they claim the final product will be light enough to
qualify as an LSA yet roadable, I am quite impressed so far. Given the
history of such projects, being impressed is not the same as predicting
success though.

Vaughn

I think that they may be using a liberal amount of balonium in it to get
the claimed performance.

Just a cursory look at it comes up with lots of drag-producing
intersections and shapes.

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.

On Mar 21, 7:00*pm, Orval Fairbairn
wrote:
In article

I think that they may be using a liberal amount of balonium in it to get
the claimed performance.

Just a cursory look at it comes up with lots of drag-producing
intersections and shapes.

Once they add the required hundred pounds or so of DOT required
bumpers and crash worthiness structure I'd be surprised if it could
get off the ground in any category; much less LSA.

-Robert

On Mar 23, 1:16*pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Mar 21, 7:00*pm, Orval Fairbairn
wrote:

In article
I think that they may be using a liberal amount of balonium in it to get
the claimed performance.

Just a cursory look at it comes up with lots of drag-producing
intersections and shapes.

Once they add the required hundred pounds or so of DOT required
bumpers and crash worthiness structure I'd be surprised if it could
get off the ground in any category; much less LSA.

-Robert

They won't need to add all that, as it will be classified as a
motorcycle for road use,
not a car.

Still, I won't predict any kind of success for it. Tools that are
designed to do multiple jobs
hardly ever do any job well.

Minimal performance in both roles and a target price of $200k, somehow
I expect the
market to be rather limited. I'd be amazed if they ever turn a profit
or even manage to
stay in business beyond making a handful of prototypes while burning
through all their
investors' money.

So says my crystal ball.

wrote:
On Mar 23, 1:16Â*pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Mar 21, 7:00Â*pm, Orval Fairbairn
wrote:

In article
I think that they may be using a liberal amount of balonium in it to get
the claimed performance.

Just a cursory look at it comes up with lots of drag-producing
intersections and shapes.

Once they add the required hundred pounds or so of DOT required
bumpers and crash worthiness structure I'd be surprised if it could
get off the ground in any category; much less LSA.

-Robert

They won't need to add all that, as it will be classified as a
motorcycle for road use,
not a car.

Good luck on that.

Most states define a motorcycle as having 3 wheels max, or 4 max
with a sidecar and this thing has 4 wheels and no sidecar.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

In article
,
wrote:

Still, I won't predict any kind of success for it. Tools that are
designed to do multiple jobs
hardly ever do any job well.

Minimal performance in both roles and a target price of $200k, somehow
I expect the
market to be rather limited. I'd be amazed if they ever turn a profit
or even manage to
stay in business beyond making a handful of prototypes while burning
through all their
investors' money.

So says my crystal ball.

Yep, I agree. At that price, you can buy a better airplane, a better
car, *and* have enough money left over to rent better cars at your
destination airport for years and years.

I really don't understand the appeal of these "flying cars". A *real*
flying car, which can be flown by the average joe, and which can take
off and land in a typical driveway, now THAT would be something. But
this kind of hybrid car+airplane which you can drive on roads to an
airport, reconfigure, take off, land at another airport, reconfigure,
and drive away, I just don't get it. It's not *that* difficult to move
your stuff from one vehicle to another at the airport, and it certainly
saves no money to combine them.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

Mike Ash wrote:

off and land in a typical driveway, now THAT would be something. But
this kind of hybrid car+airplane which you can drive on roads to an
airport, reconfigure, take off, land at another airport, reconfigure,
and drive away, I just don't get it. It's not *that* difficult to move
your stuff from one vehicle to another at the airport, and it certainly
saves no money to combine them.

I understand the appeal having more often than not found myself in the
middle of nowhere at some remote airport without any kind of rental car or
ground transportation nearby; and flying mostly on weekends, I also found
out that, even when available, rental car companies tend to be closed on
sundays in such places (e.g., enterprise)... it might not be an issue if
you fly mostly to/from larger airports, but yes, it would be neat to have
some kind of workable (i.e., motorized and street legal) means of
transportation that I could bring along during such flights.

That said, I wouldn't want to expose an aircraft that I am flying to the
hazards of road traffic (a minor 'parking rash' could prove problematic if
it affects a flying surface... and you might not find out until you are
back in the air)

--Sylvain

In article ,
Sylvain wrote:

Mike Ash wrote:

off and land in a typical driveway, now THAT would be something. But
this kind of hybrid car+airplane which you can drive on roads to an
airport, reconfigure, take off, land at another airport, reconfigure,
and drive away, I just don't get it. It's not *that* difficult to move
your stuff from one vehicle to another at the airport, and it certainly
saves no money to combine them.

I understand the appeal having more often than not found myself in the
middle of nowhere at some remote airport without any kind of rental car or
ground transportation nearby; and flying mostly on weekends, I also found
out that, even when available, rental car companies tend to be closed on
sundays in such places (e.g., enterprise)... it might not be an issue if
you fly mostly to/from larger airports, but yes, it would be neat to have
some kind of workable (i.e., motorized and street legal) means of
transportation that I could bring along during such flights.

That said, I wouldn't want to expose an aircraft that I am flying to the
hazards of road traffic (a minor 'parking rash' could prove problematic if
it affects a flying surface... and you might not find out until you are
back in the air)

Makes sense to me, however I would guess that most of the time you could
find *somebody* to chauffeur you around if you tried real hard. It would
be expensive, but probably still not nearly as expensive as buying this
car/plane.

I can see some appeal in a *cheap* car/plane, but not at this price....

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon