Battle of the Flying Cars

With our road network becoming evermore jammed with traffic, the practicality of a car that can take to the air is obvious, not only as it would free you from road congestion but it will also facilitate a far shorter journey time to your intended destination.

Furthermore, if you car flies then you can not only also take the shortest route from A to B, instead of being restricted by roads, but you are also freed of the speed limits imposed on roads networks.

As futuristic as it may sound, the concept of a flying automobile is by no means new, as the first ever flying car took to the air as long ago as 1917. Constructed from aluminium, and boasting three wings, Glenn Curtiss’s machine only managed only a few tentative bounds into the air and, with potential investors being far from overwhelmed by its prowess, the vehicle slipped into the vaults of history.

A number of further flying car designs popped up in the subsequent years, but the majority were far from practical as they either had to tow their cumbersome wings via a trailer when not flying, the wings having to be attached or removed by hand, or they barely functioned as a car that could truly be used routinely in day to day life. That said, the Airphibian, which flew in 1946 – coincidentally, the first flying car to gain CAA certification – could attain a land speed of 50mph which, for the time, was quite respectable. Nevertheless, the design of the vehicle did not allow it to transition from land to air with particular ease (though two were used by a radio station for traffic reporting).

Today, there are two main flying cars in development, The Moller M400 Skycar and the Terrafugia Transition, and both vehicles approach the concept of a flying car from very differing standpoints.

The M400 Skycar, developed by Moller – a company with an extremely long history in flying car development – fits into the category of flying car as commonly understood by the skin of its teeth it that its more of a car that flies than a car capable of flying. Indeed, at street level, one could argue that it’s not a car at all as, whilst it does have wheels, it uses thrust vectoring ducted fans to get around – similar that that seen on the Harrier VTOL aircraft. Known as a “volantor”, it is this approach that would seem to be its primarily selling point as, unlike the competition, it can take off and land vertically and so does not need a suitable run up surface to get airborne – thus enabling it to transit in and out of places that are otherwise inaccessible by road.

The four seat M400 is also capable of running on Ethanol, which means that not only is it more eco-friendly to run than a standard, petrol fuelled car (70 passenger miles per gallon at 250mph) but it is also relatively cheap to run in comparison to comparable light aircraft. It’s no slouch either, with a reported cruising speed of 275mph and a top speed of 375mph.

With a certification date given on the Moller site of no later than 31 December 2008, the M400 Skycar has a present list price of between $500-995,000 dependant on delivery positioning: in short, if you want one sooner rather than later, its going to cost you more.

In stark contrast to the M400, the Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater development of what many would see as the standard perception of a flying car, in that it is as at home on the road as it is in the air, and its design is very much a modern translation of the designs of the past – though there the similarity stops. There can be no doubt that this is a modern flying car in all senses of the word.

Featuring two fully retractable wings, The Terrafugia Transition relies, not on ducted fans, but traditional wing borne lift to fly with a separate rear mounted propeller for thrust – and it therefore needs a take off run of 1500 feet to get into the air.

With a stated delivery date of 2009, the Transition appears to be the M400’s main rival in the upcoming market of flying cars, though it certainly has the edge as far as stated price per unit is concerned – at just $148,000. And, whilst the Transition cruises at 120mph when airborne, which is nowhere near the cruising speed of the M400, one has to allow for the fact that, unlike the M400, the Transition can also be driven as a practical road going vehicle.

It will be interesting to see how the market develops once both these main contenders are in production, as there can be no doubt as to the attraction of such versatile modes of transport. That said, you will need a pilot’s license in order to fly them.

By way of a conclusion, I felt that it would be most improper of me not to briefly mention the famous flying car as featured on Google Earth. I am, however, unable to find any particular details as to a proposed production date for this entrant in the race to produce the world’s first, mass produced flying automobile.

You can visit the Moller website via this link, and the Terrafugia site via this link.