THE TERRAFUGIA TRANSITION FLYING CAR

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Its Terrafugia's flying car!

Terrafugia plans to launch Transition - a personal air vehicle. A fully operational prototype of the flying car is expected by 2008.

24 February 2006

BY A CORRESPONDENT

Terrafugia or 'escape from land' is an aptly named company. Created by MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich and colleagues at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, it is aiming to launch what it calls the Transition or the "personal air vehicle," a vehicle resembling an SUV with retractable wings, to the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wis., at the end of July. The vehicle would fly at speeds approaching the light sport aircraft limit.

The car is designed to make 100-500 mile jumps and can carry two people with luggage on a single tank of premium unleaded gas. In addition, it comes with It an electric calculator (to help fine-tune weight distribution), airbags, aerodynamic bumpers and a GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation unit. If the vehicle receives classification, a light sport aircraft license will be required to pilot it.

According to Dietrich, We have a lot of confidence that if the interest is there, we can deliver this product." "There is a huge amount of general interest, but the question is, is there a market for it?" Historically, the cost/benefit for a 'flying car' has never justified serious financial backing. Terrafugia however promises to make this dream a reality, and claims that it will be "the first to successfully bring a roadable personal air vehicle to the general aviation marketplace."

While no complete prototype exists as yet, the company will use its Lemelson prize money ($30,000) as well as a one-fifth scale wind tunnel model, along with computer simulations, for the Oshkosh show. Company estimates suggest that a fully operational prototype can be expected by 2008, and may be commercially available by 2009 or 2010.

The biggest challenge in creating the planes will not be retractable wings, said Dietrich, but rather the company's ability to create sufficient cargo room to satisfy customers. He also said that the planes would probably use an off-the-shelf engine in order to cruise at the estimated 12,000 feet.

There is however, no dearth of academics and creative pioneers in exploring aerial possibilities. Others in the race to dominate sky space include entrepreneur Richard Branson, who is contemplating space tourism, and PayPal founder Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX, is looking to launch rockets for satellite deployment. A course on do-it-yourself satellites is on offer at Stanford University.