Flying Cars : Future of Transportation

Flying car has been a long sought-after dream that remains to be realised till now.

Many mobile giants have been working of late on the concept. Terrafugia, a American company has already built a prototype that

has been tested - Terrafugia Transition. Notwithstanding above, a Slovakian Company AeroMobile has also

designed and successfully tested its flying car prototype AeroMobile 3.0.

German brand Volkwagen had also worked on a little different concept called hover car.

Zee.Aero backed by NASA scientist and Aeronautics expert Ilan Kroo has designed a prototype of VTOL vehicle.

Flying cars- Future of Transportation

Besides, some people intend to built a flying car that can back military and rescue operations. X-Hawk designed by Urban Aeronautics is the example.

In a significant development, both AeroMobil and Terrafugia Transition have done successful maiden flights in the previous decade.

AeroMobile has announced its intentions to launch its semi-autonomous prototype in 2017.

A parachute-powered model of a flyable car – Skyrunner is actually available now after a deposit of $ 5000.

Both AeroMobile and Terrafugia intend to upgrade their designed prototypes to more autonomous version with better computer controls and pre-assigned destination.

Flying Cars- Future of Transportation

Terrafugia is accepting pre-orders on making of flying car model and the total estimated cost for Terrafugia Transition updated in 2011 was $ 279,000.

AeroMobile has also hinted on the availability of AeroMobile at initial launch at a formidable cost that could be afforded by rich who have a flair to fly.

Zee.aero has developed a model which can be seen in some American patents with desirable features (US 20130214086 A1) but more of fabrication technology and creative designing is being worked on it.

X-Hawk may be used for medical evaluation and rescue missions for civialian operations besides being used for executive transport.

Some features of Terrafugia Transition

Light sport aircraft that is roadable. Flight range 425nmi, 787 km. Carbon-fibre body, length 6.02m, wingspan length 8.08m Powerplant consists of Piston-powered engine Rotax 912ULS

(100hp@5800rpm). Prototype Sensenich 3 BladeRotax Ground Adjustable Propellers. Maximum speed on road 110km/h, cruise speed172km/h, stall

speed is 62 km/h. Certifications required by owner – FAA and FMVSS.

Selective feature Of Aeromobil 3.0

Vehicle can accommodate 2 passengers. Length 6 m, wingspan 8.2 m. Powerplant consists of engine with 1* Rotax 912 four cylinder

horizontally-opposed liquid with air-cooled piston. Engine power 75 kW (100hp). Maximum speed 200km/h and stall speed 60km/h. Range is 700 km. Flight-fuel consumption 15l. AeroMobil s.r.o. is expected to be launched commercially by

2017.

Features : Skyrunner

Developed with the assistance of Britain based Parajet International. Gets converted to flight mode in 3 minutes. 1-litre boost engine Range 500miles on road and 200 nautical miles in air. Maximum altitude 10,000 feet above sea level. Speed 60mph can be attained in 4.3 seconds. Flight control- ( 2 ‘intuitive controls’) left and right steering via

handheld toggle and a throttle pedal to ascend to descend. Requires 12 hours of lessons and above 17years age. Parachute-powered technology for car very safe and convenient to

handle.

Features: Zee.Aero

Canard wing arrangement- a design with payload area surrounded by front and rear set of wings.

Mutiple vertical lift-rotors and forward thrust propellers. Horizontal stabiliser fitted in front . Battery-powered electrical engines running propellers. Carbon-fibre has been used as primary building material. VTOL capable flying car capable of being parked in standard

parking zone of a shopping complex.

Volkswagen’s Concept of Hover Car

Volkswagen has been working on concept of Hover car. Looks like a doughnut and can adjust two passengers on a self-

driven pre-determined path. The concept requires electromagnetic plates fitted in roads to be

workable, thus it did not pick off though it was very cool in design and functioning.

Volkswagen included this in people’s car project along with 2 other car projects- Hover car, Music Car, Smart key.

Music car could change the music played in the car with the change in colour of clothes of the driver.

Smart Key is a car concept wherein a smartphone could be used to control functions of a car.

X-Hawk: Rescue Operations and Military Support Vehicle

Flying car concept used to help military and rescue needs Design patented as ‘Fancraft.’ VTOL enabled vehicle with shrouded rotors, tandem fans with

turbine-powered vehicle. Maximum speed 249 km/h Altitude reached 3700m, endurance limit 2 hrs flight time. Various models for different purposes have been proposed and

being worked upon- X-Hawk LE Law enforcement and X-Hawk EMS for Emergency Medical Services.

X-Hawk can accomodate nearly 10 people and is expected to work at places where helicopter functioning is impracticable.

Cost Price and Commercial Availablity of Flying Cars

Terrafugia Transition had a scheduled expected launch between years 2015 and 2017. Its estimated price in the initial stage was US $ 194000. But in December 2011, the price was upgraded to US$ 294,000. After successful maiden flight by Transition, the company wants to build a semi-autonomous version which can fly on a pre-determined path and have more safety in bad weather and low visibility conditions. The company has named it Terrafugia TF-X and if built successfully till scheduled time of 2018, would undergo extensive testing for a launch till 2025 at an obviously higher price.

Earlier it was expected that the Transition model would be launched with an upgraded price in 2016.

Skyrunner is very affordable as compared to roadable aircrafts being available for $19,000 and booking price of $5000.

Limitations

Airspace: Countries where the airspace is already crowded, the flying cars may not be permitted as they would not prove useful there./moreover, the introduction would cause increase in nuisance and reduce the safety standards of air-travel.

Flying cars use lower altitude to navigate, thus imminent dangers of obstructions due to long trees, high-tension wires, towers are present.

Take-off and landing in flying cars require at least 2 meters long runway in most cases. Also, the runway should be obstruction-free. Thus avoiding traffic jams by putting on flight mode is not feasible. Even for any VTOL vehicles that may develop in future (just a speculation), the idea of multiple VTOL vehicles all-of sudden trying to take-off from a traffic jam is not a welcome idea. It would make air-traffic scene unsafe, bizarre and complicated.

LIMITATIONS

Bad weather conditions : For pilot driven flying cars, bad weather, low-visibility, and night-time conditions are definitively limiting conditions. Even trained pilots find it difficult to handle bad-weather conditions during aircraft flights.

Huge maintenance: The flying car requires intensive maintenance for being in a perfectly workable condition. Also, the technical failures encountered in road car management are quite manageable as compared to those in aircraft. For example if there is depletion of fuel in aircraft, it is a totally different condition from depletion of fuel in a car.

Reference

http://aflyingcars.com/