Notice that there’s been no mention of any FAA certification yet. As a former aircraft owner and pilot, I’m painfully aware of the contribution FAA certification makes to exponentially elevate prices of ANYTHING even remotely connected to aviation.
Driving an aircraft around town, is very unlikely by any sane pilot, however, being able to fold up the wings and load your aircraft up into an enclosed trailer? Well, that’s a completely different matter. I would be very interested in an aircraft that is economical to purchase, and operate with the added benefit of not having to store it at an airport.
Aviation is expensive, but, we can chose where to put our dollars. I can and will build a heated and cooled barn to store my aircraft in, over renting a bare bones T-hanger. I think, under proper development of this aircraft, there will be buyers.
My first reaction was “That’s not a fugly aircar design.” The next was “That’s a lot of origami mechanicals to make the wings/empennage functional.” Which led to “That’s a lot of things to break” and “The annual will be a nightmare.”
Maybe it will show up in the next Bond film. It sure looks a lot better than “Little Nellie”. More likely, it’ll be in the next Bond film starring Sean Connery… :-/
Al E.: If you’re willing to keep your aircraft in an enclosed trailer, you could do what I did. My experimental helicopter lives in a enclosed trailer that cost $5,000 new. And it “don’ need no steekin’ airport” at all.
It’s pretty, but I think the Klein Air Car will be as useful as a Klein Bottle.
LOL, if I only new how to fly a helicopter. The trailer will mostly be for transport. It’ll be going in a barn/hanger on my property. Unfortunately, too mountainous here for a runway, on my property.
This is definitely a looker and as such requires a little more scrutiny. While location was crucial for initial test flights to determine overall capability to achieve car and aircraft handling, there may be some hidden hurdles not revealed in this promotional video. Here in the USA, if I’m not mistaken, over the road vehicles require headlights, tail lights, brake lights, rear and/or side view mirrors. License plate(s) mounted and any emissions/safety inspections. I don’t see side view mirrors. New York and California have some of the toughest vehicle emissions standards while Michigan and several other states ignore them. Prospective owners interested in this air car are either ignorant of their state and FAA regulations or will scrutinize their state and FAA regs before forking over a deposit. And this is well before this air car meets federal/state vehicle safety/emissions and acquires an FAA airworthiness certificate. I can’t imagine anyone driving out of their Manhattan underground parking lot, maneuvering this expensive air car in congested traffic and managing to avoid a fender bender while attempting to drive to a local small airport like Teterboro in NJ, Republic or MacArthur airports on Long Island. Away from the big cities, the well heeled can drive almost anywhere from their car port to local airport.
So a Kitfox?
If/win flying cars become the normal it will be a completely autonomous system both in the sky and on the ground. So everyone will be social media junkies while their car/plane/train etc does it thing.
win=when tab to complete got me
Until regulations change… Drivers will have to obtain at least a private pilots license to fly. Dumb idea that evokes dreams of people stuck in traffic jams soaring their way home.
Go ahead and put 50K commute time cars in a major metropolitan area in the sky at once. Oh, lets hope it’s a great VFR day, and there’s a place to land and take-off near home & work.
When a decent LSA aircraft costs $200K, a flying car would be way beyond this price. Fender bender or scuff in parking lot? Sure, go fly home.
Who’s the market demographic? The pilot who doesn’t want to borrow a crew car, get a rental car, or not leave an old car at their regular destination?
Inventors tried for years to make cars that float. We would up with both a poor boat and poor car design.
Never happen.
I recall talking to an engineer from Terrafugia years ago. They took great pains to call it a “roadable aircraft”. Their goal (back then) was to make a good flying airplane first. They reasoned that pilots would put up with a mediocre car, but not a dog of an aircraft. For proof, just witness all the junky crew cars we happily drive after flying our favorite bird.
“Here in the USA, if I’m not mistaken, over the road vehicles require headlights, tail lights, brake lights, rear and/or side view mirrors. License plate(s) mounted and any emissions/safety inspections.”
When the time comes, they may bank on the “Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015”. So long as they produce less than 325 vehicles per year, they’ll be exempt from a lot of federal motor-vehicle regulations. This law was primarily aimed at the kit- and specialty-car market but could certainly apply here.
A darn good option! It’s been a while since I’ve flown a conventional gear, sure would be fun!
IIRC, they can repair it, but it has to get signed off by an A&P. At any rate, A&P’s are generally less expensive hourly nowadays aren’t they? The overhead of machines and software per car mechanic are, I suspect, the culprit.
Too much skepticism.
Someone who commutes by air could get their money’s worth. Their are professionals with practices in multiple small towns as well as business owners with similar needs. It depends on the transition and other factors I suppose.
There’s always the rich guy toy market as well.
Presumably some state could simply legalize these vehicles so long as they pass with the FAA. I’d love to see that. DC needs a good dozen instances of states asserting their rights.
So it’s kinda like an Icon A5 then, right ???
Whoever designed this ridiculous ‘thing’ obviously never took any courses in reliability engineering.
I find nothing, absolutely nothing even remotely attractive about a flying car. It’s about as attractive as a flying turd. Now, a flying motorcycle would be interesting.
Flying rocket-powered motorcycles in a beautifully realized Art Deco future? Seen Bradley Schenk’s work? This is the “flying car” I want: https://www.zazzle.com/if_i_only_had_wings_id_fly_24x18_poster-228399195405638091