Terrafugia transitional craft

[botsapper]

The Terrafugia Transition took flight on March 5, 2009. The aero-auto hybrid was designed to be capable of landing at any airport and then folding its wings in and operating as a land vehicle. The shape has a lot of aero lessons such as the form very similar to the most efficient Aptera vehicle. The estimated price is US $195,000 but with its dual capabilities & configurations it could have a lot of awaiting interested enthusiasts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHXnL...layer_embedded

[MetroMPG]

I win!

Flying car: 30 mpg (US) on the highway, or 23 mpg (US) flying @ 100 knots

(Let's discuss in that thread - it's already got a reply or two.)

[bondo]

I corresponded a few years ago with the Terrafugia group. They are a bunch of MIT grads with degrees in Engineering. At one time we were discussing the construction of a full scale mockup for them. That was some years ago and now they have a flying vehicle. I have to applaud their diligence and I wish them success.

About 4 years before I had ever seen the Terrafugia concept in 2005, I had built a model of a flying car. The wings were always a design problem to determine the best way to deploy and stow them. I was very glad to see that the Terrafugia group had chosen a similar solution to the wing problem as I arrived at on the model. Here are a few pictures. I do have a new design on the drawing board which can land on water too.

A nice link to go to to see many various designs of flying cars is

www.roadabletimes.com

[trikkonceptz]

Their getting press too, I saw them on a spot last night on my local news in S. Florida. It was a three minute story on the vehicle ...

The only saving grace is that for the moment it actually takes training to get a pilots license.

[botsapper]

FAA grants them an exemption to fit airbags. crumple zones & roll cage required for road vehicles. The Transition has a max of 1,320 lbs to keep light sport aircraft designation. Aptera's homely but flying cousin...

Terrafugia - Transition® the Roadable Light Sport Aircraft : Video

[donee]

Hi All,

Wow, very neat, in all seriousness.

I wonder how many traffic tickets they have gotten for no rear view mirrors so far? Will the Police let this happen?

[Old Mechanic]

I read somewhere that Rutan's Quickie Q2 would get close to 100 MPG at 100 MPH on 18 horsepower.

regards
Mech

[Rokeby]

Originally Posted by botsapper

The Terrafugia Transition took flight on March 5, 2009.
The aero-auto hybrid ...
The estimated price is US $195,000...

I wonder what the "payback period" is...

(That's meant to be a rhetorical question/joke.)

[Bicycle Bob]

AFAIR, The Q2 was only inspired by Rutan's original Quickie, and has far more power.