THE FLYING CAR
The idea of a flying car is nothing new. In 1949, Moulton Taylor designed a roadable aircraft called the Aerocar, which he believed would introduce aviation to the masses. Only six were built. Since then, many other inventors tried and failed, but Terrafugia, founded in 2006 by an MIT Ph.D., Carl Dietrich, together with a crack team of MIT engineers, appears well on the road to revolutionizing personal air transportation.
A Plane In Every Garage?
Imagine backing out of your garage, driving to the local airfield, unfolding wings with the press of a button and, in minutes, taking off on a 300-mile journey. When you land, you merely fold the wings back and blithely drive the few remaining miles to your ultimate destination.
The Terrafugia Transition, which can do all of that and more, is a two-seat, folding-wing, roadable aircraft that drives at highway speeds and will cruise aloft for four hours at 100 mph. It is part of Dietrich’s vision for making aviation safer, more convenient and more accessible.
Created for pilots with limited experience, the Transition’s advanced features include safety-oriented aerodynamics, latest-technology avionics, airbags, occupant safety cage, full-frontal crash worthiness and a ballistic whole-aircraft parachute that will bring the Transition gently back to Earth in the event of an emergency.
After nearly a decade of development, the Transition is road-tested, flight-tested and nearly ready for production. There is just one annoying hurdle: Dietrich designed the Transition to fit the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) light sport aircraft category, which only requires a sport pilot license that is less demanding than a conventional pilot certificate and takes half the time and money to obtain.
Regulatory Turbulence
The 1,800-pound Transition, however, is 450 pounds above the FAA’s light sport aircraft weight limit. Terrafugia petitioned for an exemption and Dietrich is awaiting a response. He believes that without the waiver, the market diminishes significantly (fully licensed pilots only), and the certification costs skyrocket. In that case, the decade-long project may be financially unrealistic and Terrafugia production may languish on the runway.
Undeterred, Dietrich is hedging his bets by parlaying years of R&D into a new, even more exciting flying car. Prompted by the Congressional mandate for the FAA to incorporate drones into the National Airspace System, Terrafugia launched the TF-X program, a four-seat, hybrid-electric flying car with semi-autonomous vertical takeoff and landing capabilities—effectively, it is a manned drone that will not require a pilot’s certificate.
A New Vision For Personal Mobility
Dietrich’s newest idea will incorporate advanced systems logic to autonomously manage the flying requirements; prevent airspace incursions; monitor weather and avoid air traffic, terrain and other hazards. It will take off like a helicopter, using electric powered rotors, and fly like a conventional airplane powered by an aircraft engine and ducted propeller. You, the “operator,” will be able to intervene when necessary to make the ultimate decisions about whether it’s safe to takeoff or land. The computer will do the rest. In the unlikely event of an emergency, the TF-X has a parachute, so all the operator will need to do is pull the red handle.
CEO PERSPECTIVE / TERRAFUGIA: GETTING ROAD READY
“When the FAA proposed the sport pilot and light aircraft rule, we started looking at a roadable airplane, as well as what we could do to make general aviation available to a broader segment of the population. Our analysis showed that if the Transition’s unique safety features—impact protection, benign flight characteristics and full-vehicle parachute—were to become widespread, the result might be a significant improvement in light airplane safety.
“The Transition, which flies and drives exactly as we intended, is designed for the short commutes or getaways where you’re planning to fly for a couple of hours, then drive around when you get there. It handles well in the air, and it negotiates the highway surprisingly well for an airplane.
“Later, when the FAA was tasked with incorporating unmanned aircraft in the national airspace system, we started looking seriously at the idea of a flying car for the masses that anyone can operate with minimal training.
“We also designed an electrical propulsion system with distributed system architecture to thwart any single failure. A large number of redundant electric motors drive the rotors for vertical takeoff and landing, and a traditional aircraft engine with ducted fan provides horizontal thrust and cruise power. The result is our vision for tomorrow—the TF-X, a fly-bywire, computer-guided vehicle programmed not to violate FAA regulations. Just tell it where to go with your smartphone and it will take you there safely.”— Carl Dietrich, CEO, Terrafugia
Additional articles you might like:
The Plane Truth: Business Aviation Is a Win-Win Solution for CEOs
Promising Aviation, Promising Economy