Terrafugia’s Transition brings a whole new meaning to ‘Fly & Drive’ travel.
Futurists/Futurologists and scientists have envisioned cars that can fly, above, since shortly after the turn of the 20th century. I remember reading about these marvels of imagination on the pages of Popular Mechanics magazine when I was a car-crazy kid in the late-1940s. Magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science have carried predictions of cars that also could fly for more than 100 years!
Since the 1960s, flying cars have often been linked to the animated TV sitcom, The Jetsons, which first aired in the early-1960s and again in the mid-late-1980s. The Jetsons lived in a futuristic utopia set in 2062 where flying cars were a reality.
If Terrafugia has its way, this reality will come a lot sooner – 2012! MIT-educated aeronautical engineers and MBAs who are also passionate private pilots founded Terrafugia in 2006.
The two-place Transition, above, powered by a 100-horsepower Rotax 912S powerplant, is classified as a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). It holds 23 gallons of fuel and burns five gph at a cruise speed of 105 mph (93 knots). Top speed is 115 mph (100 knots), and in rear wheel drive mode on the road delivers 35 mpg. It has stowage space for carry-on luggage and golf clubs. Cockpit, below, is simple and functional. When the weather is less than ideal for flying, the Transition can take the highway!
For more information on the Transition flying car, please visit, http://www.terrafugia.com/
Check out Paul Eisenstein’s blog about the Transition, “Jetsons’ Flying Car Closer to Reality” at,
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2011/07/jetsons-flying-car-closer-to-reality/