Flying Cars And Roadable Aircraft

Justo Miranda · 3 February 2008

We are in 2008 and cars are not yet flying!
Where did it go wrong?

Apophenia · 3 February 2008

Justo, If you're in the market ... http://www.aerocarforsale.com/ ;D

dan_inbox · 4 February 2008

We are in 2008 and cars are not yet flying!

Average driver is still waaaay too far from smart enough?

Justo Miranda · 4 February 2008

Apophenia said:
Justo, If you're in the market ... http://www.aerocarforsale.com/ ;D

Here you are the fathers

Madoc · 4 February 2008

Justo,

Why no flying cars?

Simple; not enough people learned to speak Esperanto!

Had we all learned "the language of the future" then that future would be here by now!

Madoc

Justo Miranda · 4 February 2008

Madoc said:
Justo,

Why no flying cars?

Simple; not enough people learned to speak Esperanto!

Had we all learned "the language of the future" then that future would be here by now!

Madoc

You are right
Babyboomers have not met general expectations...

Jemiba · 4 February 2008

"Where did it go wrong?"

Don't really know if it's wrong, that not every boor can buzz over my head !
And at least todays legislation would be the nd of this kind of transport.
Nevertheless, here's another design from times, when flying cars seemed to be
around the corner, this time from William Horton :
(from Der Flieger, 1958)

Michel Van · 5 February 2008

let say it like dat:

Aircraft Manufacturer cannot build cars
Cars manufacturer cannot build Aircraft

Messerschmitt "Kabinenroller" (after WW2 they had to build "This" to survive)

or this Flying car from Ford:
Picture one clock wise
Ford TRI-ATHODYNE (flying car)
CURTISS-WRIGHT: BEE (hovercraft car)
CURTISS-WRIGHT divers Hovercraft concept include Scooter.

Aircraft Industry Flying car
Picture two clock wise
Aerocar from Taylor
CURTISS Autoplane
Convaircar
German AEROCAR
Fly disk from Paul Moller

Picture source
http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/
http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/RETROFUTURE10.html

Justo Miranda · 5 February 2008

From "Sentinel" by Sydney Mead, Dragon's Dream 1979

LowObservable · 5 February 2008

It's the difference between things that fly, and things that don't fly but have to ride out a pothole at 70 mph and protect their occupants against a drunk in a Ford F350. A Cirrus SR22 has about the same cab volume as a 5-series BMW or similar, but has an empty weight of about 2200 pounds versus 3500-plus pounds for the car.
And given that nobody has come up with a really successful amphibious car yet (pace all you Amphicar fans out there) asking for a flying car may be ambitious.

Justo Miranda · 5 February 2008

From Mechanix Illustrated,Amazing Stories,Rick Random and unknown source

Justo Miranda · 5 February 2008

LowObservable said:
asking for a flying car may be ambitious.

You are right

airman · 5 February 2008

i think it's a dream of all : against traffic! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

SmithW6079 · 6 February 2008

A new "flying car", the CellCraft. Powered by front and rear turbines driving ducted fans through a transmission. Pictures are from the following website:
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/cellcraft_g440_the_newest_concept_in_flying_cars.php

You can read more about it here:
http://www.gizio.it/

Jemiba · 6 February 2008

Other ideas without practical sense:
The Aviauto, designed by de la Fourniere. The car is a removable gondola
of a twin engined light aircraft. Even in the magazine, where I've found
this drawing, the question was raised, if using a conventional light transport
like the Miles Aerovan wouldn't be a more practical solution ... :

(from Der Flieger 1951)

hesham · 22 February 2008

Hi,

the Austaircar was twin boom roadable aircraft project of 1949,it was
powered by two 215 hp Franklin engines,driving a pusher propeller.

http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1949/1949%20-%201983.html

avatar · 22 February 2008

has a V-tail ... interesting

hesham · 23 February 2008

Thank you Avatar,

and the Jeff Spitzer twin boom roadable aircraft,Herb Adam canard
and anther roadable aircraft.
http://www.rotaryeng.net/roadable.html

hesham · 12 August 2008

Hi,

http://www.haynes-aero.com/Netscape/frames.html

Upagan · 13 August 2008

Hi

What do you think of this?

http://www.moller.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skycar

and ...

not only Messerschmitt build something "roadable"
also Heinkel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel

Jemiba · 14 August 2008

"not only Messerschmitt build something "roadable"
also Heinkel .."

From U.Kubisch "MotorROLLERMobil"":
Dornier Delta from 1955. Perhaps inspired by the well known Dornier push-pull
engine arrangement ?

But building motorcycles and cars was just a way to keep these companies alive,
as developing aircraft still was forbidden.
And no words against the Heinkel Kabinenroller, my dad still remembers a tour in it from
Frankfurt/Main to Berlin during the fifties. It probably was comparable to a tour of
several thousand kilometers in a modern car ...

AeroFranz · 18 August 2008

Impressive summary of flying car development, half of which i hadn't even heard of! Once again i find the forum proves an encyclopaedic source of knowledge. Anyway, I would add the Pitcairn PA-36 autogyro of the late thirties to this list.

interesting video of PA-36 executing a 'jump' takeoff
http://www.cartercopters.com/videos/pitcairn_pa36_jump_takeoff.html

Gyroplanes are a very attractive way of looking at the problem, and an almost practical one. Since the rotor is unpowered and the rotor is always autorotating, engine failures are less of a problem. Top speeds are limited to more or less 100-120 kts. Oh, and if it's a three-wheeler, it can use the car pool lane

Apophenia · 28 August 2008

From U Dub's Aeronautical Laboratory in Seattle.
http://www.uwal.org/multimedia/historical.htm

"Taylor Aero Car (1948)"

The 'car' section and wings on this wind tunnel look about right. But the rear section is totally different from the final, cone-shaped fuselage.

antigravite · 28 August 2008

There exists a book in French dedicated to the subject history.

Title: Les voitures volantes - Souvenir d'un futur rêvé (flying cars - Rememberance of a dreamt future)
Author: Patrick-J Gyger
Publication year: 2005
Publisher: Favre

The author is the director of Maison d'Ailleurs, a Swiss foundation / museum dedicated to the history of science-fiction. Their collections are no counterpart in the world and they often work as an image agency.

http://www.aerostories.org/~aerobiblio/article1040.html

Jemiba · 28 August 2008

Not really a car, but a tracked vehicle, not civil, but military, looking not very realistic,
but the patent with the number DE 44 29 993 A1 was filed for this idea. The inventor
was Dr. Hans Krech, who intended to use two RR Pegasus 103 and the wing of the F-14
for this VTOL capable, lightly armoured troop carrier, armed with a 30mm gun, a co-axial
7,62mm MG and air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.
The inventor wanted only UN-peacekeeping forces to be armed with this jack-of-all-trades ...
(from Flieger-Kalender 1997)

Jemiba · 26 September 2008

And some more:
From "Weltluftfahrt" November 1950 a design by Karl Stöckel for
a supersonic

flying car, taking off as a helicopter with a tip jet
driven rotor, which can be locked to act as a conventional wing.
Forward thrust comes from a rear mounted jet engine.

And from "Weltluftfahrt" March 1951 a design to show that there's no
need to use a car, because a motorbike is absolutely suffient. A glider,
which is built around a vespa-like motobike, to make the glider self-deployable.
Note, that this design was realised and used for several years, as is stated
by the author !

airman · 26 September 2008

I want a flying car !

For avoid the traffic ! ;D

Jemiba · 26 September 2008

"want a flying car !"

This one here could be of interest for you. Foldable four bladed
rotor, a shrouded tail rotor and quite a pleasing design, I think.
Designated as "Ka-2" in "Weltluftfahrt" 12/1950, I couldn't find
the designer, someone, who can ?
BTW, if you aren't the only one to have such a vehicle, the traffic
would only be transfered into the air ... :-\

Stingray · 26 September 2008

Kamov?

richard · 27 September 2008

From " Weltluftfahrt " 1949 :
The Ka 2 was a german proposal designed by Günther C Kampf with a 460hp engine!!

Jemiba · 27 September 2008

Ah, thank you richard,
have read again the article in the 1950 issue, the designer isn't mentioned explicitely,
but the author is Günther C. Kampf and the title is "Ein deutscher Vorschlag" (a german
proposal) and he says that "this design" was meant to adress the shortcomings of the
relatively succesful Pitcairn Autogiro Co. PA-36 Whirlwind.
Seems to have been a very modest gentleman !

Stingray · 27 September 2008

richard said:
From " Weltluftfahrt " 1949 :
The Ka 2 was a german proposal designed by Günther C Kampf with a 460hp engine!!

Okay. The "Ka" part sounded like something from Kamov. :

Gavin · 27 September 2008

This recent Boeing design reminds me of the "Ka 2" posted earlier.

http://www.roadabletimes.com/roadables-integ_boeingmodl.html

Jemiba · 28 September 2008

"Okay. The "Ka" part sounded like something from Kamov"

Flying around in such a thing wouldn't have been politically correct
for communists/socialists, I think .

Stingray · 28 September 2008

Jemiba said:
"Okay. The "Ka" part sounded like something from Kamov"

Flying around in such a thing wouldn't have been politically correct
for communists/socialists, I think .

Yeah, it was kinda dumb for me to think it was Kamov.

Justo Miranda · 4 October 2008

Please see video
http://www.revistapopularscience.es/Popular_Science_Apertura.htm

Antonio · 5 October 2008

http://www.terrafugia.com//vehicle.html

Kim Margosein · 5 October 2008

In case any of you are interested, the current issue of the Robb report has a Molt Taylor Aerocar for sale for around $3mil. As I understood the ad, the vehicle is roadable, but not flyable.

Kim Margosein

hesham · 6 October 2008

Hi,

the roadable flying car project of Joe Yasecko.

shawalli · 6 October 2008

NASA has been working on SLJ's for a while and figuring out how to make them in such a way that pilots can get "a license in a day." They are going about this by making the plane very similar to a car. This is first done by eliminating all of the internal cables in the aircraft and making it sensor based. Normally, banking left means pulling back while turning left. They are working on making it so that turning a steering wheel in the plane to the left means that the plane automatically does everything to make the plane stay at the same altitude and essentially turn left, like a car. Also, the rudder pedals would be replaced by acceleration and brake pedals. When pressing them, the plane would do the necessary adjustments to speed the plane up or slow it down. A technology that has been in development for a while is automatic landing systems. NASA has been advancing this technology by creating air "streets", paths that a pilot can choose from for landing. After picking a landing strip, the plane takes over, but leaves control to the pilot if he/she wants it back. They are also working on air "highways." Your plane has a programmed route to get to a destination. If another plane is in the way of that destination, the plane communicates with the other plane and plans an alternate route, then asks the pilot to accept the route change.

This kinda strays from the flying cars topic, but still shows what technology is doing to bring flying closer to every human.

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