Car that turns into a plane in 15 seconds prepares for take-off
Said to be the first flying car with wings that fold up automatically at the push of a button, the Terrafugia Transition should be equally at home in the sky or on the road.
It can switch from being a two-seater road car to a plane in only 15 seconds.
If the vehicle survives its first test flight, it is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.
Its maker says it is easy to keep and run because it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage.
Here’s hoping that everything works out well. There are all kinds of opportunities for disaster here, from technical failures to politicians and bureaucrats screwing things up. But if they make a go of it… I want one. Really badly.
A 500-mile range would mean I’d have to stop for gas about 4 times to fly home to visit friends and family (about 1800 miles, driving). Assuming gas goes back up to $2/gallon, that’d be 8 fuel stops in the round trip, for a total of 160 gallons… $320 dollars for fuel. Assuming a cruising speed of 115 MPH, that’d be about 31 hours total flying time. Add in another 8 hours or so for the fueling ops (and potty breaks). Compare that to flying commercial, which runs about $550 for the round trip, and means getting up typically at about 4 AM to get where I’m going around 5 PM or so… a total of 26 hours or so travelling, round trip. It’d be slower than flying commercial, slightly cheaper, and a hell of a lot more flexible.
The second-gen version should fly faster and more fuel efficiently, I’d imagine.
