Air-Car, Anyone?
 

BBC News video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/c...1&bbwm=1&asb=1

After watching that, the whole Moller project looks more and more like a very elaborate hoax.

The advanced 300mph Skycar 'on the market by 2010'? Sorry to be such a cynic, but snowballs in hell have got better chances than that... :p

Endurance?
I bet the 10ft ceiling is really the point where the electric power lead comes out of the wall ...
(or is power supplied from that overhead crane?) :suspect:

aircar
 

You can still call me a skeptic as it's difficult to believe that either will be more than just another kit for sale. But every bit of awesome technology that we take for granted today started somewhere.

Watch a few Modern Marvels on The History Channel and then say that you're convinced that fifty years from now we'll still be flying the same aircraft we are today.

I remember reading an article about the skycars back when I started high school. Sounded like a gimmick then... a lot of people were saying it would be a flash in the pan.

10 years on and the idea and the company are still up and running. I believe I read somewhere that they've hovered them and were going to start the high speed flight testing...

Who knows. I doubt they'll ever become the new car, but as a replacepent for some helicopters maybe...
I wouldn't mind having CPL(skycar) on my licence!

I would.

Judging by the aerodynamics, it won't be able to glide or autorotate. What would you do in the event of an engine failure(s)?

Think the idea was so many engines one going wouldn't be a problem. Believe there's also a parachute in there to bring it down safely even if they all went (complete fuel starvation for example) - Cirrus CAPS style.

A parachute system (ballistic or other) could be an alternative for the need to autorotate or glide.

The hidden agenda is that there is nothing new in the Moeller stuff. Lots of little fans at high disk loading moving air. Little risk, really, but enormous power requirements, enormous fuel bill, and lots of maintenance. It is likely that a Moeller air car would take 4 times the power of a helicopter with similar payload.

No great advancement there, just a guy who can sell the concept to folks who have no idea what questions to ask.

Just had a look at their website. Claimed 275 mph cruise with Vne 375, and a fuel consumption of 20mpg.

Any fool can come up with numbers I realise - achieving them's another thing.

If they do though... well I don't think there's too many questions left to ask. The numbers speak for themselves

I say good luck to the guy!

Do you have to buy the Crane as well.

"Do you have to buy the crane as well?"

Now I'm blowing my nose to clear it of all the coffee.

Parachutes are old fashioned
 

Get a copter box ejection seat.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/stay-out-...ter-295059.php

Just wanted to let those contemplating buying one know, that I have a large oceanside property in Indiana available on which they can store their investment, (nice views of the mountains) - cheap rates...honest!

Are you talking about the Skycar (with 4 engines/fans) or the M200 thing (with a few more)?

For the former, I bet that even one of the engines failing will be critical. If it loses one of the fans whilst in the hover, do you think that there's still going to be 'equilibrium' of lift? I'm no aerodynamicist (obviously!) but it doesn't look like it will remain very stable to me...

And as for a parachute? (Ballistic or not) This will probably work fine if you are at a couple of thousand feet (unless you're doing 300mph at the time, of course!). But what exactly happens if you're <500ft? I can't see a parachute being very effective at these sorts of heights...


Like I've said already, 'thanks, but no thanks'!

The latest development on the Moller theme seems to have sprouted some strange aerodynamic apendages either side of the fuselage. I wonder if these could be connected to the generation of mysterious lifting forces?

http://www.moller.com/m400.htm

Perhaps another futuristic evolution of the concept could be that one of those little rotors becomes larger, sheds its coanda effect empennage, and repositions itself above the fuselage.

So all those shareholders are making the future happen... again. :ugh:

I was talking about the Skycar. Maybe I should point out I know nothing about this aircraft apart from 10 year old memories, a BBC News video and a 2 minute look through the website. Who knows how well it'll work...

What I am saying though is that I hope it DOES work. New ideas are never popular. This company has made big claims and who knows whether it'll ever live up to them; I hope it does. In 1903 did anyone believe that a hundred years later over a million people would be airborne at any given moment?

Carnage....complete and utter carnage !! there could be some very interesting police pursuits going on tho, or some muppet decides to drive straight through Heathrow to take a short cut to McDonalds???


SL

Skycar etc
 

I have to admit that when I look at the Skycar or any of the other developments of the concept, I find it hard not to think of seeing one go by one day and shouting "Pull!"

The one thing that always brings down the Moller concept (sorry for the bad pun) is all of those little two-stroke engines beating their hearts out simultaneously. ...And all the dead dinosaurs that have to feed them. ...And the problem of one (or more) of them quitting at exactly the wrong time. Nope, it doesn't work very well with conventional powerplants driving the fans.

But what if...?

What if there were some alternate source of power for the fans? I didn't dream this up (although I like to dream) but I've seen the idea of small direct-drive power sources that could be mounted right on the wheel of a car - at all four corners, say - freeing up the area that *used* to be occupied by the engine, fuel tank, etc. Such "power sources" would have to be of some so-far-unknown design and material. But who says it can't or won't happen?

We shouldn't get so pompous as to think that everything that's already been invented is all that's ever going to be invented. Or that future inventions will always be offsprings and outgrowths of existing technology. There will be some energy breakthrough that renders the infernal internal combustion engine obsolete and facilitates machines like the Moller SkyCar...some day...hopefully in our lifetimes although perhaps not, which would be a big shame and disappointment for me. Remember, it was Leonardo da Vinci that dreamt of the helicopter. And he never saw it invented either. Let's just hope that there are still big dreamers out there.