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Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Flying Car About to Take Off?An aeronautic startup looks to complete a prototype of its roadworthy aircraft within a year. By Michael Patrick Gibson
In 1918, long before George Jetson commuted to Spacely Space Sprockets, the U.S. Patent Office issued Felix Longobardi the first patent for a vehicle capable of both driving on roads and flying through the air. But given all the impractical prototypes built since Longobardi's original whimsy, history suggests that any vehicle design combining these two modes of transport will be a commercial failure: aero-auto hybrids always seem to result in a compromise that serves both functions poorly. Now a group of MIT alums believe that they are on their way toward overcoming this problem. Founded in 2006 and called Terrafugia, their startup, based in Woburn, MA, recently produced the first automated folding wing for a light sport aircraft. (A light sport aircraft is a type of airplane deemed by the Federal Aviation Administration to be easier to fly and hence more accessible than regular private planes.) The wing, however, is just the first step toward an aero-auto hybrid that the company plans to call the Transition. This summer, the group demonstrated its folding wing at the annual AirVenture aviation festival in Oshkosh, WI. With more than 650,000 attendees, the festival is the most important event in experimental-aircraft aviation. "Going into this, we knew our two biggest design challenges to make it practical would be the wings and the power train," says Anna Mracek Dietrich, an engineer at Terrafugia and the company's chief operating officer. "By validating the durability of the wing's construction and engineering, we've checked one major design challenge off of the list, and now our focus is on the second." Previous prototypes of road-drivable aircraft have featured manually folding or detachable wings. But to allow for a seamless and quick transformation from plane to car and back, the Terrafugia team has devised a system that allows the pilot to enfold or extend the wings by pushing a button in the cockpit. Dietrich says that at Oshkosh, the researchers opened and closed the wings more than 500 times--the equivalent of three to five years of typical use--and that they're more than pleased with the wings' durability. The wing features off-the-shelf electric actuators, but Dietrich says that the team had to design from scratch the mechanical linkages between the actuators and the rest of the craft. The group also uses dual electromagnetic locks to hold the wings tightly to the fuselage when they're enfolded. "We're building the rest of the first vehicle now," Dietrich says. "Our schedule calls for us to start flight testing by the end of 2008, and so far we're on track for that." The technical challenge now before the team is to build a power train that uses one engine both in the air and on the ground and is capable of running on a tank of super unleaded gasoline--the kind that can be bought at any gas station. To make the transition between engine uses smooth, the team is devising a mechanism to transfer power from the propeller to the wheels and back as needed. The difficulty here, Dietrich says, is that the system has to be as simple, reliable, and lightweight as possible. (For the team, the weight of the vehicle is a constant concern, not only because the vehicle has to be relatively light in order to fly, but also because FAA regulations require it to be less than 1,320 pounds.) |
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Flying Cars and Demining Picks
05/11/2006
Comments
jang929 on 10/10/2007 at 1:16 AM
2
jmccsstanford on 10/10/2007 at 1:31 AM
3
John McCarthy
amulekii on 10/10/2007 at 4:50 PM
10
bradwhitcomb on 10/12/2007 at 1:58 PM
1
Of course all this could be easily resolved if electric cars were a Utility Commodity and could be as quickly utilized as a taxi. Where you would enter your credit card and valid drivers lic and unplug and drive off. No need to return but just plug in at your dextination and retrieve your cards.
Monsterboy on 10/10/2007 at 3:07 AM
53
advill on 10/10/2007 at 3:22 AM
11
My opinion is that they must be as free as posible to meet the TECHNICAL concerns, and then after having a suitable vehicle the FAA will decide how to regulate it.
We are forcing them to put the carriage before the horses.
makornitzky on 10/10/2007 at 9:06 AM
10
phoenix on 10/10/2007 at 11:13 AM
83
rugg on 10/10/2007 at 11:35 AM
3
phoenix on 10/10/2007 at 1:33 PM
83
cobraphx on 10/10/2007 at 5:54 PM
13
It may seem like there are a lot of small planes falling from the sky, but this has more to do with news reporting that actual facts. Aviation accidents make the news because they are rare and novel, ad in a lot of cases they are reported nationally . If your nightly local news reported every automobile accident in your state, it would be a 24 hour channel.
As for the Transition, the biggest roadability issue I see is the surface area of the folded wings. Seems like a light vehicle with that much sail area would be unstable in high crosswinds. Might have to time your driving around small craft advisories.
rugg on 10/10/2007 at 7:43 PM
3
Out.
phoenix on 10/10/2007 at 7:18 PM
83
rugg on 10/10/2007 at 7:39 PM
3
-Fuel Starvation
-Unplanned flight into IMC
-CFIT (controlled flight into terrain)
-Incorrectly executed instrument approach
-Failure to properly de-ice
-etc...
I agree it's ungainly, but I wouldn't mind trying to drive/fly it. I trust my Cessna more right now...
phoenix on 10/10/2007 at 8:00 PM
83
urian1975 on 10/10/2007 at 8:36 PM
16
2. before we have cars that can fly we better come up with a failsafe navigation system to allow the car to fly and land itself because the mechanics required to fly a plane are tenfold over driving a car (Dealing with the snowbirds on the roads is bad enough).
3. What kind of fuel supply are you gonna have on this thing. if it is to be economcial it would need to be able to make long flights on a single tank.
4. we better have houses in the sky like the Jetsons before we have any flying cars because I dont want to be living on the ground when those things start falling from the sky.
zippo on 10/11/2007 at 10:09 AM
24
That's why, If this plane does actually come to market, I think it will be something worthwhile or even amazing. Never underestimate the value of an approved design and the human desire to save one's own ass.
smithaerospace on 10/11/2007 at 12:49 PM
1
I don’t know how successful the Transition will be, but I think it is great that someone is trying to create some new transportation technology. I think it is needed. Don’t worry about public fear, because if it works there will be a far greater public cry for economic expansion embracing the new technology. And, don’t worry about regulation either, because the government is reactionary and will side with the public opinion. If someone can make something that works economically, everything else will fall into place.
dmm on 10/11/2007 at 12:32 PM
136
(Did I forget to insult anybody?)
weee on 10/12/2007 at 4:29 AM
31
Originally developed by Fuiji as an aircraft engine it's reliable, cost effective and already used, and respected, in aviation.
kbillet on 10/25/2007 at 12:50 PM
1