What's the Crash test rating for this then?
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What's the Crash test rating for this then?
What's the NCAP report on this then???
World's first flying car on the roads from next year - yours for just £130,000 | Mail Online
World's first flying car on the roads from next year - yours for just £130,000 | Mail Online
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We have enough problem with hangar rash with experience pilots and ramp staff dinging planes, would you want your expensive flycar on the side of the street while some careless motorist was wondering what it is rather than how close they are to while paralell parking next to it?
Once you do get out onto the road, you probably have to be a rather skilled pilot to drive it. It looks rather gust sensative with all of that vertical surface.
Certification issues? I can't even imagine that!
Maintenance? Now not only do you have to make special arrangements for aircraft maintenance, but you have to make them for your car too!
I could go on, but I shall just stop here for now, and admit that I'm a naysayer on this one....
Pilot DAR
Once you do get out onto the road, you probably have to be a rather skilled pilot to drive it. It looks rather gust sensative with all of that vertical surface.
Certification issues? I can't even imagine that!
Maintenance? Now not only do you have to make special arrangements for aircraft maintenance, but you have to make them for your car too!
I could go on, but I shall just stop here for now, and admit that I'm a naysayer on this one....
Pilot DAR
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I wonder what the empty weight of the prototype is, and whether they are able to carry a pilot and a legal minimum of fuel with it. According to the development schedule on their website they should be air-testing the prototype just about now.
If I look at the specs, they closely resemble the Europa, which is also powered by the Rotax 912S (most of them anyway). A "normal" Europa weighs in at about 350 kg and has a useful load of about 270 kg, for an MTOW of 623. This contraption has an MTOW of 600 kilos and claims a useful load of 250 kilos, so its empty weight should hover around the 350 as well. A lot of other number are equal as well, although the Europa cruises marginally faster at 75% power.
Now imagine a Europa, which is a reasonably aerodynamic and reasonably lightweight design. Then add a roadgoing suspension, steering, brakes and wheels, add a clutch system to disengage the propellor and drive the wheels, add foldable wings plus the associated controls, add safety certification, add bumpers, crumple zones, a passenger safety cage, airbags, foldaway license plates and just a tiny bit of sound insulation, all without adding any weight or sacrificing performance.
Sorry, my imagination just gave up.
If I look at the specs, they closely resemble the Europa, which is also powered by the Rotax 912S (most of them anyway). A "normal" Europa weighs in at about 350 kg and has a useful load of about 270 kg, for an MTOW of 623. This contraption has an MTOW of 600 kilos and claims a useful load of 250 kilos, so its empty weight should hover around the 350 as well. A lot of other number are equal as well, although the Europa cruises marginally faster at 75% power.
Now imagine a Europa, which is a reasonably aerodynamic and reasonably lightweight design. Then add a roadgoing suspension, steering, brakes and wheels, add a clutch system to disengage the propellor and drive the wheels, add foldable wings plus the associated controls, add safety certification, add bumpers, crumple zones, a passenger safety cage, airbags, foldaway license plates and just a tiny bit of sound insulation, all without adding any weight or sacrificing performance.
Sorry, my imagination just gave up.
Last edited by BackPacker; 19th Dec 2008 at 22:17.
So would it fail an MOT in the UK for having bits sticking out (otherwise known as wings)?
And I was intrigued by this:
Riiiight......
And I was intrigued by this:
But the wings only fold out if the correct key code is entered by someone with a pilot's licence.
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I would humbly suggest that aircraft designers stick to designing aircraft and car designers stick to designing cars... And everyone else does their best to keep the two apart.
Before we all suffer!!!!
Before we all suffer!!!!
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I couldn't see that licenced for UK use anymore than I would expect a politician to tell the truth.
If you don't believe any of my other reasons for telling the truth, this one is the backstop: if you lie you will be found out, sooner or later, and splattered all over the media as a liar for the amusement of family and friends. No thanks.
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I think I will get a bookmakers licence, puts odds at 1000:1 that this will not go into general production and bought by the general public... at the end of a year all the wannabees that bet that it would, can lick their wounds, and the tidy profit I have made would go towards buying a nice little jet.......!!
Any takers?
Any takers?
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IT consultant
Gertrude the Wombat - your profile has you down as an IT consultant - not an MP. So if you are a politician, then you're not in the higher ranks of paid liars.
But you may be that rare being, an honest politician. Our local MP was one of these. It can happen.
But you may be that rare being, an honest politician. Our local MP was one of these. It can happen.
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Gertrude the Wombat - your profile has you down as an IT consultant - not an MP. So if you are a politician, then you're not in the higher ranks of paid liars.
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I WANT to like it, I REALLY want to like it ........... but I just cant.
Turn it into a roadable 182 equivalent and i will be sold - till that time, sorry! If they can indeed get the performance they state, it will be a poor compromise. If I want a 2 seat car then I want something that will go like $hit off a shovel. If I want a 2 seat AC then I want something that will be fun, not an airborne excuse for an overweight 3 axis microlight with endurance that wont see me get from one side of the country to the other (assuming normal winds), in the same time as it would take me to drive there.
No, turn it into a 182/210 and you might have me, until that time - no thanks.
RIX
Turn it into a roadable 182 equivalent and i will be sold - till that time, sorry! If they can indeed get the performance they state, it will be a poor compromise. If I want a 2 seat car then I want something that will go like $hit off a shovel. If I want a 2 seat AC then I want something that will be fun, not an airborne excuse for an overweight 3 axis microlight with endurance that wont see me get from one side of the country to the other (assuming normal winds), in the same time as it would take me to drive there.
No, turn it into a 182/210 and you might have me, until that time - no thanks.
RIX
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I liked the idea of the aircraft/car in one of the James Bond films. It looked like a Chevy Nova with Cessna 337 wings and tail strapped on. Now if that could be made to work I might be interested.
DO.
DO.