Flying cars to be available to everyone soon

We’ve seen them in many movies and we wondered whether flying cars would eventually become a reality. The idea of being able to use airspace and avoid traffic seems very appealing to many people and the long wait will soon be over. Terrafugia, a USA based company, has been developing and refining the Transition Roadable Aircraft (TRA) since 2006 and they are now ready to offer this fururistic vehicle to those who are interested in acquiring one of them.

Terrafugia which means “Escape the earth” in Latin said that their invention is classed as a Light Sport Aircraft and you’ll need to have a valid driving licence to drive the vehicle on the ground and a Sport Pilot licence to fly it. The pilot licence can be obtained with a minimum of 20 hours of flight time and passing a practical test for the aircraft.

The flying car can be safely parked in your garage as it does not require any more space than a regular car and can be driven easily on the roads and filled up at a petrol station. In flight mode, the wings are extended, a process which takes less than 30 seconds, and a preflight is performed during which the engine power is directed towards the propeller. It is important to note that landing or take off should only be done at any general aviation airport opened to the public because you need at least 2500 feet of runway. So if you’re thinking of landing straight into your house after work, then you’ll need to reconsider.

Integrating both flying capability and driving into the same vehicle is quite ingenious as it enables you to use the Transition Aircraft on the road in case of bad weather. Although there have been many attempts before which were not successful, this one seems very promising because of the modern engines which are used as well as the computer based avionics integrated into the aircraft.

There have been many security aspects which have been taken into account to comply with aviation and road rules and regulations. For example, there’s a full vehicle parachute available and as well as built in automotive crash features. The fuel consumption during cruising is around 19L per hour while on the ground it’s 15L per hour. Unfortunately, the cost of owning such a state of the art vehicle comes at an expensive price tag of £160,000.

The problem seen by many people, however, is that the TRA might cause air congestion if a lot of people start to buy these cars. However the company claims that its aircrafts are more for local airports than commercial airspace. This does not unfortunately address the issues of flying accidents whereby the TRA is flown directly onto someone’s home or the more fuel usage and reliance in a world which needs to think about alternate fuel sources to combat pollution and save the planet.

Flying cars is a revolution that will certainly changes our lives and it’s upto the test of time to see whether it’s for the better or worse. What do you think?