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You Tell Us: Dutch Start-up Hopes to Spark Takeoff of Flying Car Market

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Comments (7)

Patrick Wong:

I would buy one if it's available in Canada and priced like a premium sedan (and reasonably fuel efficient). I commute 100km (one way) daily spending 17L of gas for 200km mostly on the highway.

It will not work in the cities though because many of those flying closely would surely cause a lot of fatal accidents if the drivers are careless.

Larry Edison:

I seriously doubt that this will succeed. There are several things wrong with the assumptions made in the write up about this. One is that "Just about anyone could fly one". Flying is a lot different than driving. It's 3-dimensional rather than 2. Navigation is a lot different in the air than on the ground. Getting a sport pilot certification is not cheap either. Also the comparison between the Sport Pilot Certificate and an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate is just absurd.

Another is that the article gives the impression that the airspace below 1500 meters is not controlled and so anyone can just go ahead and use it whenever they want. The truth is that most airspace above 700 feet is controlled to a certain degree.

This aircraft could only be operated in good weather and the legality of taking off from "any strip mall parking lot" is highly doubtful.

Bernard Smith:

I also think that this will not be a success, at least in the near future. Not only is it a radical technology that needs to be developed, tested and certified, but people must learn to fly and navigate, and above all society (people such as you and me) must accept that "anyone" can simply fly about above them and take-off and land almost anywhere. I suspect that this last point will be the biggest obstacle, at least for the next 20-30 years.

Sterling:

The danger associated with the rotating surfaces is just phenomenal. The proliferation of obstacles such as power lines and poles would make operation of such a craft at any location other than an existing airport foolhardy. Can you imagine the insurance rates, if it was even obtainable? Porsche had to add rubber edges to their "wing" in the late 70s due to objections from the NHTSA. This is several orders of magnitude more dangerous, not to mention the complexity of operation.

Rafael Guevara:

Of course is a dangerous vehicle is like a flying saw, the future vehicles surely go trough magnetic rails and controlled by sensors and processors for safe..

I remember my father dismissing 1950’s Sunday supplement articles extolling the "Flying Car" as a way to avoid traffic jams with a comment about "the pieces raining down as hundreds of idiots tried to take off at the same time in the same place." It’s no more realistic now than it was then.

Patrick Harris:

A helicopter has to be lightweight, but made of strong enough materials to withstand the forces it expects to see in flight. An automobile has to be made of strong enough material to withstand a crash in order to protect it occupants, but light enough to get decent gas mileage. Two different engineering approaches to two different uses, both of which will rarely coincide to make such an all-purpose vehicle. It's not like making a cell phone with a camera in it.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 28, 2007 9:43 PM.

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