Posted by Telegraph.co.uk
Published: 4:14PM BST 29 Jun 2010
The Terrafugia Transition, a light aircraft that can convert into a road-legal automobile, is to go into production after being given a special weight exemption by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Light sport aircraft licences require just 20 hours' flying time, making them much easier to obtain than full private licences.
The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot - an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land - it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.
This is a list of some of the prototypes developed in a bid to create a roadworthy vehicle that can also take to the skies.
Curtiss Autoplane - In 1917, Glenn Curtiss unveiled the first attempt at such a vehicle. His aluminum Autoplane sported three wings that spanned 40 feet. The car's motor drove a four-bladed propeller at the rear of the car. The Autoplane never truly flew, but it did manage a few short hops.
Arrowbile - Developed by Waldo Waterman in 1937, the Arrowbile was a hybrid Studebaker-aircraft. Like the Autoplane, it too had a propeller attached to the rear of the vehicle. The three-wheeled car was powered by a typical 100-horsepower Studebaker engine. The wings detached for storage. AThe project failed due to lack of funding.
Airphibian - Robert Fulton developed the Airphibian in 1946. Instead of adapting a car for flying, Fulton adapted a plane for the road. The wings and tail section of the plane could be removed to accommodate road travel, and the propeller could be stored inside the plane's fuselage. It took only five minutes to convert the plane into a car. The Airphibian was the first flying car to be certified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the predecessor of the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It had a 150-horsepower, six-cylinder engine and could fly 120 miles per hour and drive at 50 mph. Despite his success, Fulton couldn't find a reliable financial backer.
ConvAirCar - In the 1940s, Consolidated-Vultee developed a two-door sedan equipped with a detachable airplane unit. The ConvAirCar debuted in 1947, and offered one hour of flight and a petrol mileage of 45 miles per gallon. Plans to market the car ended when it crashed on its third flight.
Avrocar - The first flying car designed for military use was the Avrocar, developed in a joint effort between Canadian and British military. The vehicle, which looked like a flying saucer, was supposed to be a lightweight air carrier that would move troops to the battlefield.
Aerocar - Inspired by the Airphibian and Robert Fulton, whom he had met years before, Moulton "Molt" Taylor created perhaps the most well-known and most successful flying car to date. The Aerocar was designed to drive, fly and then drive again without interruption. Taylor covered his car with a fiberglass shell. A 10-foot-long drive shaft connected the engine to a pusher propeller. It cruised at 120 mph in the air and was the second and last roadable aircraft to receive FAA approval, until now. In 1970, Ford Motor Co. even considered marketing the vehicle, but the decade's oil crisis dashed those plans.
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News Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/7861541/Terrafugia-Transition-transforms-from-car-to-plane.html
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