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Terrafugia Flying Car

April 4, 2012 by · Comments Off on Terrafugia Flying Car 

Terrafugia Flying Car, Flying cars aren’t just science fiction anymore. Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia Inc said Monday that its prototype flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle – dubbed the Transition – has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. Last month, it flew at 1,400 feet (426 meters) for eight minutes. Commercial jets fly at 35,000 feet (10.668 meters).

Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.
And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.

The flying car has always had a special place in the American imagination. Inventors have been trying to make them since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst who owns R.W. Mann & Co in Port Washington, New York.

But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already granted the company’s request to use special tires and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add about six pounds (2.72 kgs) to the vehicle. The Transition is currently going through a battery of automotive crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.

Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft. The standards govern the size and speed of the plane and licensing requirements for pilots, which are less restrictive than requirements for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a relatively low hurdle for pilots.

Terrafugia Flying Car

July 19, 2011 by · Comments Off on Terrafugia Flying Car 

Terrafugia Flying CarTerrafugia Flying Car, A flying car to retail and 227,000 could be on the roads in a matter of months – and customers are already queuing up to be the first to get their hands on one hand, its manufacturer claims.

A little over a week, the Terrafugia Transition passed a major milestone when it was cleared for takeoff by the U.S. Administration Road Safety. It has taken Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich five years to fulfill his dream, with some media reports that the transition could now be on U.S. roads the end of next year.

Last year, the project was led by problems after officials demanded changes in the design Terrafugia costs somewhere in the order of + 18 million.

Fortunately, the company of Dietrich and then won a 60 million, with the Department of Defense to develop a flying Humvee.

Although the price of a single vehicle has been about 230,000 and the price of the starting order of 170,000 and up to 100 clients have already paid a deposit and 10,000 for a transition.

The next stage of Terrafugia is world domination, with the first stop outside the U.S. that of Europe.

Civil Aviation Authority told the UK Daily Mail that the separation USA meant that it would be “relatively easy” for the transition to obtain authorization from the European Aviation Safety Agency, based in Cologne.

“Most of the work already done in the U.S.,” said Jonathan Nicholson, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in the UK. “Safety standards are very similar between there and Europe.”

Terrafugia says more than 20 Britons have already expressed interest in owning a transition.

The two-seat plane is made of carbon fiber and 600 aimed primarily at U.S. troops “in place” communities. It can take off from almost any long and straight, and once in the air, has a top speed of 115 mph.

On landing, the wings are folded in 15 seconds with the power to be assigned to the rear wheels, giving it a top speed of land 62 kilometers per hour and the size of equivalent size to a large saloon.

“It’s like a transformer bit,” said Dietrich.

The transition will be available for those with a license for light aircraft and requires as little as 20 hours of training to fly.

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