Flying car
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.
In science fiction, the vision of a flying car is usually a practical aircraft that the average person can fly directly from any point to another (e.g. from home to work) 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 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 Aerobile first took to the air. The Aerobile 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.
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 (such as the Convair flying car and Molt Taylor's Aircar) 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 (FAA) about regulatory issues, the critical problem was that the (then) 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 Aerobile - 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 (SAE) 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
Current development examples
A number of companies are actively 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 (vertical take-off and landing) 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.
Popular culture
Actor Bob Cummings owned one of four Aerocar I's and it appeared on his television show.[1]
In Calvin and Hobbes in late 1989, the following discussion may be found (and appears to be the earliest known 'Where are the flying cars?'): "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 portrayed the villain escaping in a Taylor Aerocar.
A memorable 2001 IBM commercial featured Avery Brooks (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame) 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, 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, The Fifth Element, Star Trek, and The Matrix. Usually these vehicles fly without any visible means of staying aloft (perhaps due to anti-gravity or some other exotic technology).
- One of the most iconic flying cars is the De Lorean from the film Back to the Future Part II, which underwent "hover conversion" while time-travelling in the future. Also the first part of the film takes place in the year 2015, where cars which can fly are common.
- 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 (and long since obsolete) Ford Anglia enchanted to fly.
- Flying cars can also be seen in Matthew Reilly's Hover Car Racer. These supposedly use electromagnetic devices to hover.
- The Neutrinos in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series also use flying cars.
References
- ^ Seattle Times: Tired of the commute? All you need is $3.5 million, September 2006
See also
External links
- The Google Earth flying car
- Roadable Times - pictures and descriptions of over 70 designs of flying cars and roadable aircraft, past and present
- LaBiche Aerospace Official Web site (FSC-1)
- Flying car (Volante Aircraft)
- The Terrafugia Transition
- Moller International (M400 Skycar)
- Waterman Aerobile at the Smithsonian
- Flying cars in 25 years (BBC News Online)
- How Flying Cars Will Work from HowStuffWorks
- Flying Cars (Tales of Future Past)
- [1] "Les voitures volantes, Souvenirs d'un futur rêvé" (Book published on Flying Cars in French)