Personal Flying Vehicles

[Turtle]

___I watched a piece on 60 Minutes news program on personal flying vehicles. The upshot is NASA has the software & systems for keeping everyone on track & several groups have prototypes flying.

___Back in the 1950's they told us the personal flying vehicle is here; it never took off. Now they say it's here again so what do you think? Can it work? Will it work? If it works, will you be among the first to buy try fly?

___I'll look for some links. ;) I remember hearing one designer/builder on late night Coast To Coast AM show; sweet looking vehicle but still flying on a tether last I heard.

 

Here it is; the Sky Car

 

http://www.moller.com/skycar/

 

Here is 60 Mi9nute story link; I don't know how long it stays current.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/06/60minutes/main706942.shtml

[Queso]

right now we're so worried about an alternative energy source for automobiles that i doubt flying cars will be in high demand, although i think they are ready to make their debute. especially with the overpopulation and traffic, oi.

imagine skycar crashes.

 

will they be equiped with an ejection seat?

 

please don't pollute the sky with commute. oh how i would miss those stars.

[Turtle]

___The Sky Car is only one of about 4 or 5 designs they reviewed and it's not the one you can buy now. I don't remember the name but it's only 50,000 US dollars. It's a helicopter affair with 2 counter rotating rotors & steering veins in back. They claim a ceiling of 10,000 feet & range of 200 miles.

___The NASA system is what is supposed to make this work in regard to the collisions you mention as well as navigation. Each aircraft has the system & the display is very like a first person video game. The system on each aircraft uplinks to the GPS & a central system maps out corridors to the destination while keeping individual courses from intersecting at the same time. You just steer yourself into the box on the screen!

___I'm in! Maybe I can get one on a grant or something? ;)

[Queso]

i am totally jacking one. of course, after i understand their tracking mechanisms and know how to disable them.

[Queso]

oh cool they have emergency parachutes!

[DefectiveDNA]

I have been hearing that story for nearly 10 years now.

 

Look at the car carefully, it has too many propellor, what kinda fuel consumption it has ? what is its flying range / capacity ? I smell conspiracy.

 

Here is my version of a possibility.

 

THE FLYING CAR (U gota have kidding imagination to understand it ).

 

Chop the side wings of any small plane (with propeller on its nose) create new small wings with width equal to the width of the plane. Place them on the top of the plane starting from the nose as most heighted one, stepping down towards the tail one after the other.

 

Like a radio antenna, they pop up above the plane as the plane speeds up due to the lift on the wings, first wing is the topmost and last is lowest, the plane hangs on these wings.

 

Remove the propeller on the planes nose and place it in front of these stepped wings and above the nose. Here the high-speed air from the propellers passes through the wings, giving them a greater than normal lift.

 

When the plane lands and slows down, the wings get retracted from top of the plane due to weight; the propeller has to be lowered down. Now its as good as a car. Now the plane will fit in a car garage and it becomes a flying car.

 

With further modifications we can make it look like a car.

[Turtle]

___Regardless of the vehicle design, it is the flight control system that allows it to work. The program is NASA's Highway in the Sky. Here is the NASA link:

 

http://www.aero-space.nasa.gov/library/da/chicago/hits.htm

 

___

[Queso]

last time i saw a turtle on a fence post, i was dead. i never really thought, only since i was incapable. i wasn't even was. i wasn't.

[infamous]

___Regardless of the vehicle design, it is the flight control system that allows it to work. The program is NASA's Highway in the Sky. Here is the NASA link:

 

http://www.aero-space.nasa.gov/library/da/chicago/hits.htm

 

___

 

This would be really interesting if it ever gets of the ground, excuse the pun. I used to enjoy flight before having a terrible experience a few years ago. I've made more than half a dozen trips to Europe over the years and enjoyed everyone of them. It was a flight to Chicago in 1975 that changed my mind about air travel. We were returning from Chicago with Kansas City as our destination when without warning the plane simply dropped like a stone. I could go into detail about the insuing panic that developed, but I'll spare you. Let it suffice to be said that, I will never get back on an air ship as long as I live.

[Queso]

wow. i think now is probably the safest time to fly though, am i wrong?

you never know though...man that is terrifying.

[infamous]

wow. i think now is probably the safest time to fly though, am i wrong?

you never know though...man that is terrifying.

 

I'm sure that's true orby, it's just that feeling of being completely out of control, I just can't overcome the fear. As everyone is well aware, we ended up landing safely. If we hadn't, I wouldn't be writing this message now. In any case, it was an experience I will remember with vivid recall as long as I live. You know, it's strange because I drag race and I have had many close calls over the years. Maybe it's because I have some control over the outcome when I behind the wheel and, in an airplane, all you can do is wait and hope for the best outcome.