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ISSUE
161 - March 2011
Over 8,000 Total Ads Listed
1,000+ NEW Ads Per Week
|
| So
- Where's My Flying Car? |
By David Rose,
Contributing Editor
San Diego, California |
 So – about
my flying car – how’s it going?
We first talked
about it in an article back in September 2007 (Issue 5 and
available in the eFlyer
archives).
We talked about the pretty little flying car Dr. Paul Moller
had developed over a period of only 30 years after having spent
only 50 million of his investor’s dollars. The project
was widely covered and there is now a wealth of information
available on the internet here.
You can witness the Moller “Volantor” flying in
the videos here.
The flights are of a tethered vehicle but in fairness the
cables are slack throughout the short flights.
Doctor Moller
holds a PHD in Aerodynamics from McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada. This is a respectable school and Doctor Moller
is well qualified to pursue his dream of a flying car. So,
how has it gone?
Well… as far as the Moller Volantor
is concerned it’s difficult to know. Going to www.moller.com we get the dreaded message “404 – file or directory
not found” I hate that. Of course it means that the resource
might have been removed, or had its name changed, or is just
temporarily unavailable.
But saddly, further investigation
shows that on May 18, 2009, Dr. Moller filed for protection
under the Chapter 11 reorganization provisions of the federal
bankruptcy law. But Dr. Moller is continuing development and
is currently reported to have been contracted with by a Russian
businessman to design a flying car based on the Ferrari 599
GTB. |
|
But “my” flying car?
Well, there are others out there bent on getting it into production.
“The Transition” by Terrafugia
is going great guns and will ‘hit the market in 2012’ they
say. www.terrafugia.com |
|
Kate Bolduan of CNN reports from Dunnellon, Florida that the FAA has ‘certified’ Steve Saint’s flying car “The Maverick”. It does fly. And it is a car; it even carries a Florida licence plate
“FLY CAR”. Mr. Saint reports that his flying car will soon
be available for $80,000.
Then there is the X Hawk from our friends at Urban Aeronautics in Tel
Aviv. Their proprietary control system holds U.S. Patent # 6,464,166 and has
no exposed rotors which allow the vehicle to sustain a hover even right alongside
a building. So you could literally park at the 23 floor of a building and load
passengers. That’s interesting. But I just want one that will drive out of the
garage, lift off from my driveway, fly to where I’m going and land in the parking
lot. The Urban Aeronautics folks say that’s the easiest thing for their ‘car’ to
do.
 I’m pretty exited about their prospects after viewing the very encouraging
video at youtube.com.
And financing? Mr. Rafi
Yoeli of Urban Aeronautics states "We are being financed by private investors,
and right now the project does not appear to suit venture capital. When the project
began everyone thought we were completely nuts, but then we carried out tests
in wind tunnels, we got money from the U.S. Navy to carry out a study.”
The
U.S. Navy? My flying car is just over the horizon.
For the latest on the X-Hawk
go to their press reports at www.urbanaero.com.
Then
there are the Parajet SkyCar and Col. K.P. Rice’s Volante being developed;
and The
Hammerhead; so obviously, like myself, everyone wants a flying car; and
if everyone wants one you can bet everyone will get one. Soon. Probably. Hopefully. |
|
| ‘Course,
when you see projects like the Alfa
Romeo “Spix”,
you begin to believe. |
|
| |
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