How would this fly? That doesn't look like enough wing to support the thing. The FAA Has Just Approved Test Flights For Terrafugia's Flying Car - Fortune Ummm seriously... oops...
Well the wing could be big enough if it went fast enough. Interestingly a T-38 has the same wing area as a Cessna 182 and weighs 8 times more. Somehow I don't think that car can go as fast as a T-38.
Looks like the engines rotate. Have to be going quickly to stay aloft without rotating the engines for lift. Kind of like a CV-22, but with turbofans. That will throw debris all over the place.
A flying car can not look like a typical airplane and be useful in either mode. A design aspect of typical airplanes is minimizing fuselage form drag, e.g. streamlining and such. Consider that a 4ft wide fuselage is >10% of a 36ft wingspan, yet has no positive aerodynamic attributes. It is possible that this design will utilize the body for lifting purposes. tf-x - Ask.com YouTube Search
I corrected you. It seems to me this concept has tried and failed many times at least since the 50's, maybe before that. Not sure how long until it is figured out that there are too many conflicting needs. Buy a car, dive to the airfield and get in your whatever flying machine and be done with it. If you have room, put a strip out back of the house.
And the other question, Do we want every wingnut with a garage and money flying all over he11 and gone whenever they feel like it?
As poorly as most people drive in two dimensions, I think flying cars for the masses would be disastrous. Having to operate in three dimensions while eating a burrito, talking on the phone or applying make-up is just too much for the average driver of today.
In part why they said it would be semi-autonomous, likely under strict control of ATC, but they have to market it like you can just take-off from the neighborhood store parking lot.
You are trying to mate an Eagle with a Wart Hog when you attempt to create a flying car. Neither is good as a car or airplane and when the " airplane" is on the road as a car and gets hit by a real car, the "airplane" AND the "car" are no longer operable as either. Can you imagine taking it to a body shop and tell them that they have to fix it to airworthy condition? " What do ya' mean, fix the air conditioner? We can do dat!"
I think a flying car would work more like a quad copter drone. Very stable, easy to maneuver, will hover and land straight down, and completely computer controlled with GPS and communication with other drones flying in a designated altitudes. The biggest issue is what happens if the power fails. People in cars falling out of the skies is literally not going to fly.
