Flying Car Prototype: Companies Ready to Make ‘Transition’ From Driving to Flying

In a 1968 film, Dick Van Dyke was the proud owner of a flying car named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Of course, it turned out to be simply a story that the character told to school-children. 

But the flying cars unveiled recently are no fantasy.

One of the creators of a flying car prototype, the Terrafugia company of Woburn, Massachusetts in the United States, calls theirs a “roadable aircaft.” It was inevitable, however, that the general public would call their new invention, unveiled in January, a “flying car". They also had a successful test flight in March, to much public fanfare.   Terrafugia’s official model name is the Transition. That is appropriate, since it aims to bridge the gap between travelers who go by car and those who go by plane. In Terrafugia’s vision, here’s how it works.

A customer in the near future buys their Transition vehicle and drives it down the road to a runway. From there, the wings are unfolded, and the flying car takes off into the sky. The driver/flyer goes to their destination, returns, folds the wings back and then drives it away.    Terrafugia has actually settled on a price for the Transition: $194,000. What has not been settled is just where the cars can fly to (since most shopping centers or office buildings don’t come equipped with runways).

The Transition’s makers say it flies about 500 miles on one tank of regular unleaded fuel, meaning one factor that might spur sales is its energy efficiency.  Terrafugia was founded by several MIT students in 2006. Since announcing the Transition, they’ve taken deposits for about 40 of the vehicles. They plan to start delivering them in 2010 or 2011.

Flying cars have been in mankind’s imagination for decades, in everything from Buck Rogers to The Jetsons. Terrafugia is not the first company to try designing one. As far back as 1949, a company called Aerocar, also based in the U.S., developed six prototype of flying cars. They were never produced for the public, although one is at the FAA Museum.  

Moller International has also been working on their flying car options for many years. In the second half of 2008, they announced that they had completed design of the 'autovolanter', a 'hybrid flying car'. The 'autovolanter' is designed to be able to lift off vertically, and fly for about 15 minutes at up to 150 miles per hour. This flying car is also designed to function like a traditional hybrid car on the ground, and is touted to be able to drive up to 40 miles on the roads.

Moller International has also been touting their ‘Skycar’ model, termed a ‘personal vertical takeoff and landing’, or VTOL for short. In mid-2008, they projected that 40 models would be completed at some point in 2009. Moller's design of the Skycar accomodates flying at up to 10 feet off the ground, and they believe that an operator would not need a pilot's license when flying at this altitude.

Additional competitors, including Volante Aircraft, Milner AirCar, Haynes Aero Skyblazer, and Maco Industries Skyrider, are working away at their own flying car prototypes. It will be a fun competition to watch!

We’ll keep you posted on future flying car developments.