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A flying car is an automobile that can legally travel on a road and can take off, fly, and land like an aircraft.
The science fiction vision of a flying car is a practical aircraft that the average person can fly directly from any point to another (i.e. from home to work) without the requirement for roads, runways or other special prepared operating areas.
History
Early experiments
Glenn Curtiss, the Wright's chief rival, was the first to design a flying car. The Autoplane had three wings and an aluminum body, using the same wings as his Model L Triplane which spanned 40 feet. The assembled length was 20 feet, the body/fuselage using a twin boom rear section with the engine mounted between the booms. The Autoplane never flew but was exhibited at the Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition in New York City's Grand Central Palace in February 1917. The first patent awarded for a flying car went to F. Longobardi in 1918 and Curtiss received a patent for the Autoplane in 1919.The first flying car to actually fly was built by Waldo Waterman. Waterman became associated with Curtiss while Curtiss was pioneering naval aviation at North Island on San Diego Bay in the 1910s. However, it wasn't until February 21 1937 that Waterman's Arrowbile first took to the air. The Arrowbile was a development of Waterman's tailless aircraft, the Whatsit. It had a wingspan of 38 feet and a length of 20 feet 6 inches. On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at 110 MPH and drive at 55 MPH. Five Arrowbiles were completed and two were flown from Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio for demonstration flights during air races. Waterman restored Arrowbile No. 6 (No. 5 was never completed) in the 1960s and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is in storage. Arrowbile No. 4 is reported to still exist in non-working condition.
Post-war development
In the 1950s, the western world was recovering from World War II and everything seemed possible. The flying car was a vision of transportation in the 21st century, and a common feature of science fiction futures.Several designs (such as the Convair flying car and Molt Taylor's Aircar) have flown, none have enjoyed commercial success and those that have flown are not widely known about by the general public. One notable design, Henry Smolinski's Mizar, made by mating the rear end of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto, disintegrated during test flights, killing Smolinski and the pilot.
In the 1950s, Ford Motor Company performed a serious feasibility study for a flying car product. They concluded that such a product was technically feasible, economically manufacturable, and had significant realistic markets. The markets explored included ambulance services, police and emergency services, military uses, and initially, luxury transportation. Some of these markets are now served by light helicopters. However, the flying car explored by Ford would be at least fifty-fold less expensive.
When Ford approached the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about regulatory issues, the critical problem was that the (then) known forms of air traffic control were inadequate for the volume of traffic Ford proposed. At the time, air traffic control consisted of flight numbers, altitudes and headings written on little slips of paper and placed in a case. Quite possibly computerized traffic control, or some form of directional allocation by altitude could resolve the problems. Other problems would also need to be resolved in some ways, however, including intoxicated drivers or motorists that drive without a license.
List of more notable historic flying cars and roadable aircraft
- Curtiss Autoplane - 1917, never flown
- Waterman Arrowbile - 1937 two examples in museums as of 2004
- Aerocar Aerocar - 1949, one example still flying as of 2004
- Aerauto PL.5C - early 1950s
- AVE Mizar - 1973, Cesna Skymaster/Ford Pinto hybrid. Crashed, killing developer.
Modern development
Today, there is an active movement in the search for a practical flying car. Several conventions are held yearly to discuss and review current flying car projects. Two notable events are the Flying Car forum held at the world famous EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, WI and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) held at various cities.
Flying Cars can fall into one of two styles:
- Integrated – Take all the pieces with you while you drive
- Modular – Leave pieces to fly at the airport while you drive
Historically, early flying car prototypes were primarily of the modular style, mainly due to the simplicity of construction. Today’s designers are working on integrated styles to allow for complete flexibility in the operator's schedule.
A number of companies actively building vehicles are shown below.
Current development examples
The LaBiche Aerospace FSC-1 is a developmental prototype Flying Car and is an example of a practical flying car capable of utilizing today's automotive and aviation infrastructure to provide true "door-to-door" travel. The vehicle can be parked in any garage or parking space available for cars. The FSC-1 is the first known vehicle capable of automatic conversion from aircraft to car at the touch of a button. LaBiche has flown a 1/10th scale model, tested a 1/4 scale model and is currently finishing the FSC-1 prototype for road and air testing, as of 2006. Currently, the FSC-1 requires a pilot and driver's license to operate. However, upon approval from the FAA, development is underway for utilizing a new satellite-navigation "hands free" flight system to travel from airport to airport that will eliminate the need for a pilot's license. Numerous safety systems and fail safes are also employed on the FSC-1, such as a recovery parachute.The Moller Skycar is a prototype personal VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that some call a flying car. However, the Skycar is a good demonstration of the technological barriers to developing the VTOL flying car. Moller International continues to develop the Skycar M400, which is powered by four pairs of in-tandom wankel-rotary engines, and is approaching the problems of satellite-navigation, incorporated in the proposed Small Aircraft Transportation System. Moller also advises that, currently, the Skycar would only be allowed to fly from airports & heliports. Possible future ' vertiports ' might include FAA-specified fields, parking lot areas & private properties, depending on space & noise parameters. However, the FAA has already stated that they do not have, nor do they intend to fund any vertiports in the future. To date, the single-person M200 model has flown freely, and the passenger M400 has flown on a tether. In 2006, additional fluid-dynamics testing was underway for the M400. On February 12, 2003, Molller was fined $50,000 by the SEC for a fraudulent unregistered stock offering. See the SEC complaint here *.
Science Fiction development
An aircraft that can replace the automobile is still a object of fantasy and speculation. Such a flying car would have to be very easy to fly safely and be able to operate from driveways and parking lots with little or no special preparation.
Fictional
The novels of Philip K. Dick, such as Blade Runner, feature VTOL flying cars, in the form of "flapples" and "spinners" respectively. Flying cars and other wingless floating vehicles are common in many (if not most) science fiction movies and series that depict a technologically advanced future, including Star Wars, The Fifth Element, Star Trek, and The Matrix. Usually these vehicles fly without any visible means of staying aloft (perhaps due to anti-gravity or some other exotic technology). The Absent-Minded Professor used flubber to convert his own car into a flying model. One of the most iconic flying cars is the De Lorean from the film Back to the Future Part II, which underwent "hover conversion" while time-travelling in the future.
More recently, flying cars have made the transition from science fiction to fantasy in the Harry Potter books, in the form of an otherwise-stock (and long since obsolete) Ford Anglia enchanted to fly.
See also Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jetsons
Popular culture
In Calvin and Hobbes in late 1989, the following discussion may be found (and appears to be the earliest known 'Where are the flying cars?'): "Hobbes: "A new decade is coming up." Calvin: "Yeah, big deal! Hmph. Where are the flying cars? Where are the moon colonies? Where are the personal robots and the zero-gravity boots, huh? You call this a new decade?! You call this the future?? HA! Where are the rocket packs? Where are the disintegration rays? Where are the floating cities?"
The Flying Car was a humorous short film written in 2002 for the Tonight Show by Kevin Smith. It featured Dante Hicks and Randal Graves stuck in traffic, discussing the lengths to which a man might go to obtain such a vehicle.
The 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun portrayed the villain escaping in a Taylor Aerocar.
A memorable 2001 IBM commercial featured Avery Brooks (of Deep Space Nine fame) complaining “It is the year 2000, but where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars. I don’t see any flying cars. Why? Why? Why?” Complaints of the non-existence of flying cars have since become nearly idiomatic as expressions of disappointment in the failure of the present to measure up to the glory of past predictions.
See also
External links
- Roadable Times Pictures and descriptions of flying cars and roadable aircraft, past and present. Over 70 designs are to be found here.
- LaBiche Aerospace Official Web site (FSC-1)
- Flying car (Volante Aircraft)
- The Terrafugia Transition
- Waterman Arrowbile at the Smithsonian
- Flying cars in 25 years (BBC News Online)
- How Flying Cars Will Work from HowStuffWorks
"Flying car"