Rick Raw: Flying Car Follow Up–MIT Grad Students Launch Terrafugia Company

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

Six months ago, I wrote a piece on the development of a viable flying car. Soon the Terrafugia Company based in Woburn, Mass is launching their flying car to the aviation market.

At $194,000 a pop, this ungainly looking rear pusher-propeller flying machine is more of an airplane than a car. The problem of marketing a flying car has always been the compromises in road-worthiness versus airworthiness, rendering the flying car a mediocre car and not a very advanced airplane.

In other words, to make an airplane street legal as a car, and able to drive on American roads, takes away from its airworthiness. Adding a drive train and suspension adds weight to the airplane, which is part of this unlikely fusion machine.

Still, aeronautical engineers have dreamed of this fusion vehicle since airplanes were invented in 1903. Attempts to build and market such a contraption have failed to ignite public interest. It’s apples and oranges–you buy an airplane to get as much for your money as possible.

You drive your car to the hanger and park it to fly your plane. There are some aviation styled communities such as the one where John Travolta lives outside of Orlando that accommodate his planes next to his house and he can taxi out to the runway and takeoff.

The new model by Terrafugia called the Transition will take flight in 2011.The company claims it has 70 advanced orders. It was certified by the FAA and granted a special weight limit exemption for the car-plane. Of all the car-planes throughout the history of the airplane, this is the most technologically advanced model.

The wings fold-up or unfold like carrier aircraft in less than a minute. However, you have to take off from a certified airport runway. However, you can drive your car-plane from your house to the airport, unfold the wings, and take-off.

The Transition has a "glass cockpit"–meaning its displays and gauges are all computerized digital screens. As a car, it gets 30 mpg, but don’t expect it to drive like a BMW. You have the propeller in the rear and a rear end collision would be catastrophic and expensive.

Not surprisingly, the Transition is being marketed more as an airplane than a car. It now meets all NTSB safety standards. However, you need a single engine pilots’ licence to fly this car-plane.

The real advantage to the Transition is, you can drive it to and from the airport without expensive hanger fees. With the wings folded you can fit the Transition in most any car garage.

Figure the cost at more than 200 grand when you add an aviation radio, transponder, GPS, and a full plane parachute, which is a last chance life saver. The name of the company, Terrafugia is Latin for "escape from the land." The company was founded in 2006 by five MIT grad students who were also pilots.

The airplane is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet. Its takeoff weight is 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers. The company touts its 10,000 ceiling as an advantage? It allows pilots to fly under bad weather. For private aircraft that’s a very low ceiling.

Other car-plane configurations will soon be available. There is a tri-wheeled vehicle that will transition into a helicopter, which makes more sense that the car-plane.

Its like a tri-wheeled motorcycle that you stop on the side of the road and unfold the rotors and lift off.

The ultimate flying car design is the Moller Skycar. The prototype has been around for at least 20 years. Moller’s design is way ahead of its time. It features four nacelle encased engines.

The nacelles rotate 180 degrees for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Its navigation system depends on future air-lanes for these skycars in which once locked in, the vehicle stays in that lane until you reach your destination. The Skycar’s avionics are very advanced computerized fly by wire.

The Moller Skycar can reach 275 mph cruising speed with a top speed of 375 mph. Of course, since the Moller Skycar is VTOL, it will not drive on roads, but takeoff from the owner’s backyard.

For years, Moller has been soliciting venture capitalists so he can mass manufacture his invention. So far, the prototype is the only Moller Skycar in existence.

All these car-planes show promise. The question is: Is there a viable market for the Transition. The Terrafugia Company is confident that this aardvark aircraft will find a niche in the aviation market.

I’ll be updating this story in the future.