It's more a floating car than a flying car. I hope the CAA jump all over this if it makes it beyond prototyping. The already crowded skies full of people taking off at a whim with no idea of airspace restrictions or Air laws.
One day of training, even driving a car takes longer.
This could do to the Aviation community what Jet Skis did to the sailing/yachting community.
These aren't casual paragliders, this is a heavy chunk of metal flying around with people who have no idea about airspace usage, don't require radio contact and can take off and land at will controlling them. What's stoppping them in a traffic jam deciding to pull onto the hard shoulder and take off not realising that they lift off across the departure end of a GA airfield?
I'm happy for flying cars etc. to exist but the ability to operate should include more than how to just control the vehicle.
Last edited by Jimmy Macintosh : 21st November 2008 at 02:30.
There's some drug and people smugglers in Mexico who will be queued up around the block to buy one. Too bad about that fancy fence Homeland Security is/has spent a few hundred mill on
Squaddies in the various sandpits will find them just perfect for dodging land mines and IEDs
Wait till the Somali pirates get their hands on a few
Field selection for outlandings will quickly darwinise the pilot population
Having suffered from the standards of some of the pricks who drive on West Australian roads the last thing I want is the same imbeciles driving anything above 6 inches above the ground in my airspace.
So finally the day of the flying car has finally arrived and now everyone is against it?
I have to say it's a brilliant, deceptively simple idea. I'm really not sure about the idea of travelling across Africa to make some point or other!
However I have spotted an immediate flaw. The article says it travels at speeds up to 80mph. Which probably means in a dive with the wind behind it. The reality is that it probably cruises around 30 to 40 mph. Into a headwind you would be quicker driving.
Paragliders are only unregulated when foot launched, clearly this is not and would have to comply with all the usual stuff we do.
Paragliders are flat out at about 20/30mph. I think most ppl would rather drive it than fly it.
as for taking off in a traffic jam, where ?????????
I think the main idea of this is that you can race across the outback etc and when you come to a river or canyon can simply fly over it and return to driving ASAP.
Lets not panic I have even seen pilots that are crap drivers.
Paragliders are only unregulated when foot launched, clearly this is not and would have to comply with all the usual stuff we do.
That's exactly what I was saying needs to happen. If it already does then great. In the article it says one day of training and you're good to go, that implies minimal training. *Just re-read the article it does say a powered parachute licence as well, don't know what's involved with that.*
Quote:
Paragliders are flat out at about 20/30mph. I think most ppl would rather drive it than fly it.
The article says that it's stable upto 80 mph, so I guess it can fly a little faster than you're legally allowed to drive.
As prototypes and one offs they're cool, as you say they'll be used as you describe, if it becomes mainstream there's no end of people who will abuse the usage. There are a lot of people with more money than sense and given the option of a 'flying' car for 30K has the potential to cause chaos.
The day any practical flying car become generally available will be the day we will see an exponential increase in traffic deaths.
At present many motorists cannot drive safely without hitting others.
Imagine the chaos when they have to think left/right and up/down at the same time.
What are currently minor collisions will become major accidents.
Those who do not die in the collision will do so when they hit the ground after falling out of the tangled wreakage.
Relax Mr Crun, the gravity-resist models will come complete with automatic collision-avoidance technology, and will be idiot-proof easy to fly. They tell me that modern helicopters will fly stable all by themselves, don't know how much truth there is in that, but it's the kind of thing I like to believe....and if you need to park up and get out for any reason, like tweaking the gyroscopes, or peeling birds off the windscreen, or swapping insurance details, well, just pull on the hover boots, and you won't even need to land
Much prefer the look of Moller's Skycar (strange sound effect on the web-site - thought I had a wasp in the office)"
Aviate googled Moller.......
Found......
In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Moller for civil fraud (Securities And Exchange Commission v. Moller International, Inc., and Paul S. Moller, Defendants) in connection with the sale of unregistered stock, and for making unsubstantiated claims about the performance of the Skycar. Moller settled this lawsuit by agreeing to a permanent injunction and paying $50,000. In the words of the SEC complaint, "As of late 2002, MI's approximately 40 years' of development has resulted in a prototype Skycar capable of hovering about fifteen feet above the ground."
Investors [fools that they are] had been scammed.
"Discovery Channel's MythBusters reported that more than 200 million US dollars have gone into the development of the Skycar."
In the UK, this thing will be legislated into a fringe / niche market.
The authorities have, historically, been caught with their pants down.
Back in the day, there was NO regulation of hang-gliders.....they caught up, only to be confronted with powered ones....then ridge-soaring parachutes.....then the "fan on your back" version.....rarely have the authorities ever pre-empted developments.
It's not a practical proposition for road-use (any bets the prop-cage will be grotesquely huge to save inquisitive pedestrian fingers? ) No, you can't stop on the public highway to deploy /inflate the canopy (not to mention lamp-posts /signposts /overhead wires.
So, you just have a Paraglider (paramotor?) with a heavy-duty cart underneath.
just a quad-bike with a canopy and prop, the only USP is the common engine to the two propulsion systems. Already controlled adequately, IMO.
Joe Soap may well buy one, but once he's ripped down all the council-estate's telephone -lines.............non-starter.
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