Terrafugia: The Flying Car
If you are a certain age, you probably watched and recall the Jetsons, that space age family with flying cars and robots.
Well, they actually are here now, no, not robots, but flying cars. Terrafuggia of Massachusetts has done it. Park it in your garage, drive it out and down the road to the nearest airport or runway. Flip a switch, and the wings lower in place and lock (all in 30 seconds). You make the pre-flight checks on the folding wings, the rear view mirror is pushed out of the way and start the engine. Now, fly away!
The Terrafuggia is a Light Sport Aircraft, so the FHA requires you to have 20 hours of flight training. The aircraft cruises at 105 mph and has a range of almost 500 miles on a tank. It uses regular gas, so you can fill it up (23 gal.) at the local gas station. To take off or land, you need at least 2500 ft. It weighs 1430 lbs. By comparison, a VW Jetta weighs 3000 lbs. As fas as MPG goes, in the air, it burns five gallons an hour. On the road, it gets 35 MPG. The car-airplane uses a 100 hp Rotax 912ULS engine. Body dimensions when used as a car are: 80" H, 90" W, 18.5 ft. L.(yes, if you drive, many will be staring in a state of shock!). As an aircraft, the wingspan is 26.5 ft.
While this is for rich, costing $280,000, with a $10K deposit, it does offer a computer, a CVT tranny, moon roof, alloy wheels, stereo. Basically, everything a car has plus wings that fold up. This is the first production year (2012) and 100 have been ordered.
All I can say, cool. The video proves it!
