New Car Flies into Market

Commentary Editor

Flying cars

Courtesy of MSNBC.com

It's a Car; It's a Plane - Terrafugia's Transition part-car, part-airplane took its first test flight, lasting 37 seconds. The vehicle took off and landed successfully.

and even a bicycle appeared in films and television shows such as  “Back to the Future,” “The Jetsons,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” the 2003 spy thriller “Die Another Day,” the 1968 musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and a flying BMX bicycle in “E.T.”

   A real flying car, the Transition, made its maiden flight March 19.  Terrafugia created the part-car, part airplane and flight-worthy creation. The car flew for 37 seconds and right over the runway, 25 seconds longer than the controlled flight of 12 seconds of the Wright Brother’s plane in 1903.

   Anna Mracek Dietrich, a Terrafugia co-founder and its chief operating officer pointed out in story from Discovery that “flying wasn’t the key goal.”

   If flying wasn't the key, what was? Do they create a car with both capacities just to look at and sit in a garage? I wouldn't think so.  According to the March 19 article on MSNBC.com, “The goal is to create an airplane that can be driven to and from a runway and parked in the family garage at night.”

   The Transition runs on regular unleaded gasoline and can travel up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas. The wings fold up or extend for the plane to car or car to plane in less than 30 seconds. Six months before the aerial flight, the Transition went through road tests and years of design.

   The company plans to begin sell the $194,000 vehicles in 2010 and have taken deposits for 40 vehicles. This may not be the first flying car to be built, but it certainly solves the problem of flying to a location and not having to buy a rental car to get around. This way you don’t have to buy a plane ticket or rent a car; that's if you don’t have to go over 500 miles. Deitrich said the point of the test was to prove that this could both fly and drive. I guess they proved their point with this test; it can both fly and drive.

   I wonder though what new traffic laws will be created after the introduction of the Transition? One I can think of is watch for other aircraft. This will probably be a new project for lawmakers. Also, will there be air traffic tickets for reckless flying? Only time will tell.

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