Amazing flying car conducts first public flights

World's Amazing

terrafugia transition flying car: 

The Transition is basically a small general-aviation airplane that can fold up its wings with the push of a button. It runs on normal automotive gasoline — about 30% less expensive than aviation fuel (its range is about 410 miles plus a 30-minute reserve). Fly the Transition to a small airport, land, and the wings withdraw in less than a minute. Its propeller disengages and its rear-wheel drive turns on. At that point, you're street legal and ready to roll. At home, the Transition is designed to fit within a single-car garage.

Flown and driven by phil meteer, chief test pilot and flight test coordinator, the 'terrafugia transition' flying car performed its first public demonstrations in front of a crowd at the 2013 EAA airventure oshkosh. several 20 minute demonstrations included flight maneuvers, converting from airplane to car and driving along the flight 

line. the two-seater, fixed wing street legal airplane has the capacity to achieve a maximum speed of 115mph (185 km/h) with a cruise speed of 105mph (172 km/h) for highway speeds with rear wheel drive while moving on the ground and is designed to fit in a single car garage. after a 30 second transition time, enabled by the push of a button and an automated electromechanical, folding wing system, the vehicle may take off from a 1700' stretch over obstacles at a height of 50'. 

The 'terrafugia transition' flying car performed its first public demonstrations 

The street legal airplane has the capacity to achieve a maximum speed of 115mph (185 km/h) 

terrafugia has completed extensive analysis and crash simulation on the car in order to become mass-

production ready and ensure industry partners of 'transition's ability to meet all road safety standards. 

the USA's national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) exemptions of the roadable aircraft's 

excess weight was due to the company's preference in safer flight/drive materials. the vehicle is formed

 from polycarbonate materials, rather than automotive safety glass, in order to prevent the shattering 

of the windshield in an instance of the car's pilot hitting a bird in flight. additionally, the tires of the 

air-road vehicle are heavier than automotive tires in order to accommodate both the stress of landings 

on the vehicle's body as well as standard road driving.

The 'transition' features an automated electromechanical ?folding wing system 

Side view - folded wings 

Driving on the ground, the 'transition' car is 80" (2m) tall, 90" (2.3m) wide, and 18' 9" (6m) long, while when flying the airplane requires a wingspan of 26' 6" (8m) with its height reduced by two inches and length increased by one. the cockpit of the vehicle is 48" wide, accommodating up to two passengers and carry-on luggage. 

The 'transition' is powered by regular unleaded gas from one's local gas station, with fuel efficiency rated at 18 liters consumed per hour when cruising at speeds of 168 km/h (105mph). in flight, the car may travel 787 km (490 miles) maintaining a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) per hour fuel consumption being 10km (6.2 miles) per litre. 

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Early efforts In 1956, Ford's Advanced Design studio built the Volante Tri-Athodyne, a 3/8 scale concept car model. It was designed to have three ducted fans, each with their own motor, that would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. In public relation release, Ford noted that "the day where there will be an aero-car in every garage is still some time off", but added that "the Volante indicates one direction that the styling of such a vehicle would take". In 1926, Henry Ford displayed an experimental single-seat aeroplane that he called the "sky flivver". The project was abandoned two years later when a distance-record attempt flight crashed, killing the pilot. The Flivver was not a flying car at all, but it did get press attention at the time, exciting the public that they would have a mass-produced affordable airplane product that would be made, marketed, sold, and maintained just like an automobile. The airplane was to be as commonplace in the future as the Model T of the time.

In 1957, Popular Mechanics reported that Hiller Helicopters is developing a ducted-fan aircraft that would be easier to fly than helicopters, and should cost a lot less. Some estimated that in 10 years a four-place fan would cost like a good car. Hiller engineers expected that this type of an aircraft would become the basis for a whole family of special-purpose aircraft. 

In 1956, the US Army's Transportation Research Command began an investigation into "flying jeeps", ducted-fan-based aircraft that were envisioned to be smaller and easier to fly than helicopters. In 1957,Chrysler, Curtiss-Wright, and Piasecki were assigned contracts for building and delivery of prototypes. They all delivered their prototypes, however Piasecki's VZ-8 was the most successful of the three. While it would normally operate close to the ground, it was capable of flying to several thousand feet, proving to be stable in flight. Nonetheless, the Army decided that the "Flying Jeep concept [was] unsuitable for the modern battlefield", and concentrated on the development of conventional helicopters. In addition to the army contract, Piasecki developed the Sky Car, a modified verision of its VZ-8 for civilian use.

Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk 

Urban Aeronautics' X-Hawk is a VTOL aircraft which operates much like a tandem rotor helicopter, however it doesn't have the exposed rotors which make helicopters dangerous for personal use. This is accomplished by containing the rotors in large 'ducts' which make up most of the body of the craft; the requisite decrease in rotor size also decreases fuel efficiency. The X-Hawk is being promoted for rescue and utility functions. The first prototype flew in 2009.

Moller Skycar M400 

The Moller Skycar M400 is a prototype personal VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft which is powered by four pairs of in-tandem Wankel rotary engines, and is approaching the problems of satellite-navigation, incorporated in the proposed Small Aircraft Transportation System. Moller also advises that, currently, the Skycar would only be allowed to fly from airports & heliports. Moller has been developing VTOL craft since the late 1960s, but no Moller vehicle has ever achieved free flight out of ground effect. The proposed Autovolantor model has an all-electric version powered by Altairnano batteries. 

Terrafugia TF-X

On May 7, 2013, Terrafugia announced the TF-X, a plug-in hybrid tilt-rotor vehicle that would be the first fully autonomous flying car. It has a range of 500 miles per flight and batteries are rechargeable by the engine. It is expected to hit the market in 2021.