Encyclopedia
A
flying car or
roadable aircraft is an
automobile that can legally travel on a road and can take off, fly, and land as an
aircraft. In practice, the vehicle usually has to be converted from car mode to airplane mode.
The
science fiction vision of a flying car is a practical aircraft that the average person can fly directly from any point to another without the requirement for roads, runways or other special prepared operating areas.
History
Early experiments
Glenn Curtiss, the Wright's chief rival, was the first to design a flying car. The
Autoplane had three wings and an aluminum body, using the same wings as his Model L Triplane which spanned 40 feet. The assembled length was 20 feet, the body/fuselage using a
twin boom rear section with the engine mounted between the booms. The
Autoplane never flew but was exhibited at the Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition in New York City's Grand Central Palace in February 1918. The first patent awarded for a flying car went to F. Longobardi in 1918 and Curtiss received a patent for the
Autoplane in 1919.
The first flying car to actually fly was built by
Waldo Waterman. Waterman became associated with Curtiss while Curtiss was pioneering naval aviation at North Island on
San Diego Bay in the
1910s. However, it wasn't until march 21 1937 that Waterman's Arrowbile first took to the air. The
Arrowbile was a development of Waterman's tailless aircraft, the Whatsit. It had a wingspan of 38 feet and a length of 20 feet 6 inches. On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at 110 MPH and drive at 55 MPH. Five
Arrowbiles were completed and two were flown from
Santa Monica,
California to
Cleveland,
Ohio for demonstration flights during air races. Waterman restored
Arrowbile No. 6 in the
1960s and donated it to the
Smithsonian Institution, where it is in storage.
Arrowbile No. 4 is reported to still exist in non-working condition.
Post-war development
In the
1950s, the western world was recovering from
World War II and everything seemed possible. The flying car was a vision of transportation in the 21st century, and a common feature of
science fiction futures.
Several designs have flown, none have enjoyed commercial success and those that have flown are not widely known about by the general public. One notable design, Henry Smolinski's
Mizar, made by mating the rear end of a
Cessna Skymaster with a
Ford Pinto, disintegrated during test flights, killing Smolinski and the pilot.
In the 1950s,
Ford Motor Company performed a serious feasibility study for a flying car product. They concluded that such a product was technically feasible, economically manufacturable, and had significant realistic markets. The markets explored included ambulance services, police and emergency services, military uses, and initially, luxury transportation. Some of these markets are now served by light
helicopters. However, the flying car explored by Ford would be at least fifty-fold less expensive.
When Ford approached the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration about regulatory issues, the critical problem was that the known forms of air traffic control were inadequate for the volume of traffic Ford proposed. At the time, air traffic control consisted of flight numbers, altitudes and headings written on little slips of paper and placed in a case. Quite possibly computerized traffic control, or some form of directional allocation by altitude could resolve the problems. Other problems would also need to be resolved in some ways, however, including intoxicated drivers or motorists that drive without a license.
Notable historic flying cars and roadable aircraft
Some of the more notable flying cars include:
- Curtiss Autoplane - 1917, never flown
- Waterman Arrowbile - 1937 two examples in museums as of 2004
- Aerocar Aerocar - 1949, one example still flying as of 2006; two examples in museums
- Aerauto PL.5C - early 1950s
- AVE Mizar - 1973, Cesna Skymaster/Ford Pinto hybrid. Crashed, killing developer.
Modern development
Today, there is an active movement in the search for a practical flying car. Several conventions are held yearly to discuss and review current flying car projects. Two notable events are the Flying Car forum held at the world famous
EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, WI and the Society of Automotive Engineers held at various cities.
Styles
Flying Cars can fall into one of two styles:
- Integrated – Take all the pieces with you while you drive
- Modular – Leave pieces to fly at the airport while you drive
Historically, early flying car prototypes were primarily of the modular style, mainly due to the simplicity of construction. Today’s designers are working on integrated styles to allow for complete flexibility in the operator's schedule.
Current development examples
A number of companies are aactively building vehicles.
The LaBiche Aerospace FSC-1 is a developmental prototype Flying Car and is an example of a practical flying car capable of utilizing today's automotive and aviation infrastructure to provide true "door-to-door" travel. The vehicle can be parked in any garage or parking space available for cars. The FSC-1 is the first known vehicle capable of automatic conversion from aircraft to car at the touch of a button. LaBiche has flown a 1/10th scale model, tested a ¼-scale model and is currently finishing the FSC-1 prototype for road and air testing, as of 2006. Currently, the FSC-1 requires a pilot and driver's license to operate. However, upon approval from the FAA, development is underway for utilizing a new satellite-navigation "hands free" flight system to travel from airport to airport that will eliminate the need for a pilot's license. Numerous safety systems and fail safes are also employed on the FSC-1, such as a recovery parachute.
The
Moller Skycar is a prototype personal
VTOL aircraft that some call a flying car. However, the Skycar is a good demonstration of the technological barriers to developing the VTOL flying car. Moller International continues to develop the Skycar M400, which is powered by four pairs of in-tandem wankel-rotary engines, and is approaching the problems of satellite-navigation, incorporated in the proposed Small Aircraft Transportation System. Moller also advises that, currently, the Skycar would only be allowed to fly from airports & heliports. Possible future ' vertiports ' might include FAA-specified fields, parking lot areas & private properties, depending on space & noise parameters. However, the FAA has already stated that they do not have, nor do they intend to fund any vertiports in the future. To date, the single-person M200 model has flown freely, and the passenger M400 has flown on a tether. In 2006, additional fluid-dynamics testing was underway for the M400. On February 12, 2003, Molller was fined $50,000 by the SEC for a fraudulent unregistered stock offering.
Inspired by Moulton Taylor's
Aerocar, the man who owns the only Aerocar that is still flying has founded a new Aerocar company and is developing the Aerocar 2000, which is a removable "flight module" consisting of wings, tail, and powerplant that is added to a modified
Lotus Elise roadster.
Popular culture
Actor
Bob Cummings owned one of four
Aerocar I's and it appeared on his television show.
In
Calvin and Hobbes in late 1989, the following discussion may be found : "Hobbes:
"A new decade is coming up." Calvin:
"Yeah, big deal! Hmph. Where are the flying cars? Where are the moon colonies? Where are the personal robots and the zero-gravity boots, huh? You call this a new decade?! You call this the future?? HA! Where are the rocket packs? Where are the disintegration rays? Where are the floating cities?"The Flying Car was a humorous short film written in 2002 for
the Tonight Show by
Kevin Smith. It featured
Dante Hicks and
Randal Graves stuck in traffic, discussing the lengths to which a man might go to obtain such a vehicle.
The 1974
James Bond film
The Man with the Golden Gun is the thirteenth and final James Bond [i] novel [i] written by Ian Fleming [i] ...
portrayed the villain escaping in a Taylor Aerocar.
A memorable 2001
IBM commercial featured
Avery Brooks complaining “It is the year 2000, but where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars. I don’t see any flying cars. Why? Why? Why?” Complaints of the non-existence of flying cars have since become nearly idiomatic as expressions of disappointment in the failure of the present to measure up to the glory of past predictions.
Science fiction development
An aircraft that can replace the automobile is still an object of fantasy and speculation. Such a flying car would have to be very easy to fly safely and be able to operate from driveways and parking lots with little or no special preparation. The flying car persists as a common science fiction theme.
The novels of
Philip K. Dick, such as
Blade Runner is an influential 1982 [i] science fiction film [i] directed by Ridley Scott [i] ...
, feature
VTOL flying cars, in the form of "flapples" and "spinners" respectively. Flying cars and other wingless floating vehicles are common in many science fiction movies and series that depict a technologically advanced future, including
Star Wars is a science fantasy [i] [i] and fictional galaxy [i] cr ...
,
The Fifth Element is a science fiction [i] action movie [i], directed by Luc Besson [i], starring Milla Jovovich [i] ...
,
Star Trek, and
The Matrix is a science fiction [i]/action [i] film [i] written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski [i] ...
. Usually these vehicles fly without any visible means of staying aloft . The Absent-Minded Professor used flubber to convert his own car into a flying model. One of the most iconic flying cars is the De Lorean from the film
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 film [i] and is the second part of the
Back to the Future trilogy [i] ...
, which underwent "hover conversion" while time-travelling in the future.
More recently, flying cars have made the transition from science fiction to fantasy in the
Harry Potter books, in the form of an otherwise-stock
Ford Anglia enchanted to fly.
See also
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,
The JetsonsReferences
See also
- Future of the car
- Personal Air Vehicle
External links
- - pictures and descriptions of over 70 designs of flying cars and roadable aircraft, past and present
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