The Terrafugia Transition: a car that can fly?
Ask alot of adults past middle age what they thought the current millenium would be like and I’m sure some of them would have expected flying cars. That’s not happened yet, we haven’t even gotten past the internal combustion engine properly yet, and car manufacturers are divided between hydrogen and electric.
There has to be a first, and this might be it – the Terrafugia Transition. They don’t call it a flying car though, instead its official definition is a “roadable light sport aircraft”, which means its first and foremost an aircraft.
According to Terrafugia flying it is alot like a regular plane and someone only needs 20 hours of flight time in a Transition-specific course if he starts from scratch. For existing pilots its even easier – just a familiarization training that’s included with the purchase.
The Terrafugia transition can cruise at 100 knots or over 180km/h. It burns 5 gallons per hour from a 20 gallon fuel tank. On the road, it achieves 30mpg at highway speeds. No top speed has been mentioned so I suspect this is actually quite low although the minimum of highway accepted speeds should be achievable, likely due to conflict of aerodynamics design.
While its wings can be folded and you can park it at your house and even in your garage, You can’t just take off immediately as it isn’t a VTOL aircraft. VTOL means vertical take-off and landing, those that have played Command & Conquer before would be familiar with this – remember the Orca?
Instead, you’ll have to “drive” the Transition to your nearest runway and take off there like a normal plane. It’s front wheel drive, by the way. The cost has not been finalised yet but a rough estimate has been pegged at US$ 194,000!
It recently performed its maiden flight which lasted only 37 seconds before it landed again. “The first flight is great, but first landing is what matters,” said Terrafugia co-founder Anna Mracek Dietrich.
Look after the jump for a few photos of the car/plane.
VIDEO: First Flight of the Terrafugia Transition – Camera A
A video of the first flight of the Terrafugia Transition. First flight occurred on March 5th, 2009 at Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, NY.
VIDEO: First Flight of the Terrafugia Transition – Camera B
A video of the first flight of the Terrafugia Transition. First flight occurred on March 5th, 2009 at Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, NY.
VIDEO: Interview with Test Pilot Col. Phil Meteer, (Ret).
Col. Meteer discusses his experience as the test pilot shortly after the first flight of the Terrafugia Transition.
VIDEO: Terrafugia Transition(R) At Home
Park the Transition(R) Roadable Aircraft in your household garage. Deploy the wings entirely from the cockpit.
VIDEO: Terrafugia Transition(R) Turntable
Terrafugia’s Transition(R) Roadable Aircraft is a Light Sport Aircraft designed by pilots for pilots. With first delivery scheduled in 2011, the Transition(R) gives pilots a new level of flexibility in flight.
March 25, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
cool..want one..!! can fly to mamak..
March 25, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
I think this is riding aircraft more like flying car.
March 25, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
This maybe the future transport ill be.
Easy 4 balik kampung.
But the price is -_-
March 25, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
yea can fly to mamak but cant park at mamak hahahah
cool concept but not so cool design
March 25, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
2nd! 3rd! or whatever! its awesome man! hey, izzit the advancement from the flying car project i heard a few years back?
March 25, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
Probably cheaper and better to buy a small aircraft like a Cessna 172 AND a decent car. If it is a VTOL vehicle then it could make a difference.
March 25, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
No need to pay toll anymore…heh!heh!
March 25, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
This is a long journey to fly this car to mamak, imagine you live in taman some where, taman dont have a long road to flying up you car, or have many-many bongol in the road, you need to drive to highway to pay toll to flying your car and landing at airport then drive the car to mamak. Why dont make a helicopter car, isnt that easy to flying and landing and parking?
March 25, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
batman can use this car…
March 25, 2009 @ 11:37 pm
VTOL is the way to go la, easier. no need huge road or runway. i’m fine with cars right now.
March 25, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
Yah~batman dont need parking, he ride like a hell… :O
Just paint it to black color and re-barge with batman logo
Cat woman dont need car, she just need to meow, sooner batman come with this car
March 26, 2009 @ 12:04 am
im not asking much. just to be able to take off just before a toll house, and then land again soon after is good enough.
March 26, 2009 @ 12:16 am
kapal terbang lipat serbaguna..
March 26, 2009 @ 1:06 am
unpractical ….
March 26, 2009 @ 1:51 am
i thought something similar had already existed in the 1960s??..
March 26, 2009 @ 8:01 am
this is gonna fail.
March 26, 2009 @ 10:16 am
Not practical at all. Still doesnt meant the basic requirement as the following:-
- Affordability – Pricing was way too expensive
- Practical – VTOL not applicable, Where you want to take off and the concern was where to land ? Someone still have to build a small landing area such as concept like R&R on our NS highway
- Safety – With current technology of vehicle, we still cant ensure high rate in terms on safety on the road. What will happens if a car can fly !
These was the few things i could came up from my mind @ this time
Anyway its a thumb up, for such a company daring for changes and invest during such recession period.
March 26, 2009 @ 11:43 am
[quote comment="224223"]yea can fly to mamak but cant park at mamak hahahah
[/quote]
cool concept but not so cool design
Yes, You can EVEN LANDED on ‘MAMAK’ too!!! Wuhuh!
Remember the flying Estima that flew off from the bridge road and “LANDED” nearly on a Mamak stall?
March 26, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
at first, yes, its unpractical…
but future, who knows…
maybe future, traffic jam at airport/low cost airport…
more kaizen needed….
March 26, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
u need a very big open ground to land ..
unless, u do a amphibian 1 .. can land on the sea, this may be a lot better ..
than u need to find a ramp or beach to get to the land ..
conclusion, it is very difficult to use it in malaysia ..
March 27, 2009 @ 2:26 am
saw something similar on ripley’s believe it or not couple of years back….
March 30, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
We are hopeful that Perodua can built it with a price range between MyVI and Nautica. (just joking)