The Government's envisioned concept consists of a robust ground vehicle that is capable of configuring into a VTOL [Vertical Take Off and Landing] air vehicle with a maximum payload capability of approximately 1,000 lbs.

If you secretly nurtured a dream of owning a flying car, the good news is your dream can be a reality by 2011. This month MIT students, from Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, have successfully flight tested the prototype of a winged car for the first time. This car took off from a runway in Plattsburgh, New York. It flew for 37 seconds. The engine used in this whole exercise was 100 hp Rotax engine that gets 30 mpg on the highway using regular unleaded gasoline.

The MIT students have floated a company named as Terrafugia. They will conduct further tests of the plane for longer duration of fights and hold trial for handling characteristics too. The timing of launch of this flying car is just right. The Federal Aviation Administration has created a new category of plane, Light Sport Aircraft. They have also made provision for a new license category just for pilots of such craft, including Terrafugia’s two-seater Transition. The “sport pilot” license requirement is quite lenient compared to regular pilot’s license. If you want to fly the Transition it will take only about 20 hours of training time.

Carl Dietrich is the Terrafugia CEO and co-founder. He is of the view that the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rule change and the Transition could help alter the way public travels round the country particularly in country areas. He says, “One of the biggest problems pilots have right now is that most of the 5,000 general aviation airports in the U.S. don’t have any car rental facilities, or even a cab stand.” He made his stand clear by saying that the Transition could open many of these underutilized airports to easier, more convenient use by private pilots.

The vehicle may also lead to better safety. If you are a piloting such flying car, you can withstand the bad weather too. If you can detect the conditions of bad weather a little in advance, just fold up the wings and land at the nearest airport and start driving on the roads. Once the storm has passed, take off again from another airport!

The vehicle would be able to carry four troopers and all their gear, and would be no larger than 30' by 8.5' by 9'. For visualization's sake, that's the length of two Hummers end-to-end. DARPA requires that the vehicle be able to lift off from a stand still, like a helicopter, and reach an altitude of 10,000 feet. Oh, and if it's autonomous, like a Predator, that's just fine with DARPA, as they want any ol' Marine to be able to pilot the thing (or sit back and let it take them into the fray), without a huge amount of training.






Tags: flying car, flying vehicle