Flying Cars And Roadable Aircraft
- Thread starter Justo Miranda
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The Samson Motorworks' SkyBike:
See http://www.samsonmotorworks.com/ for more info and much better pictures.
Regards,
Greg
See http://www.samsonmotorworks.com/ for more info and much better pictures.
Regards,
Greg
GTX said:
I don't buy it for a second, but damn if it doesn't look cool.
robunos said:OH NO!!! OBB used the 'C'-word!!
I'll be ten minutes in Hell before I use the abomination "kewl" as a way to describe something.
XP67_Moonbat
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Charles Gray
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robunos said:
Well to be honest, that in and of itself doesn't mean it can't be made-- NASA isn't perfect and often budget priorities lead to programs being cut when they might make it.
But to be blunt, I don't care if they DO ever make it we will never have flying cars in the sense of mass transit. All you have to do is say the words: New Years Eve, to understand what a horrible idea that is. HAving taught high school, I can also tell you that "idiot proof" computer control systems will be anything but.
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Not actually a new type, but I didn't knew before reading "Pegasus-Heart Of The
Harrier" by Andrew Dow, that Bristols "Flying Pig", at least the single engined version,
was roadable, too, as it should have had a 100hp engine to drive the wheels on the
ground.
(drawing from Flugwelt 1/1960)
Harrier" by Andrew Dow, that Bristols "Flying Pig", at least the single engined version,
was roadable, too, as it should have had a 100hp engine to drive the wheels on the
ground.
(drawing from Flugwelt 1/1960)
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See the experimental Aerocar built in 1949.
http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/s/2082/3_o/0/1
http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/s/2082/3_o/0/1
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I always thought the Skyrider X2R looked cool. But it's probably about as feasible as the Moller design.
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I found this in Scale Models magazine, January 1974.
Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) Mizar.
A mating of the Ford Pinto with the Cessna Skymaster. The Prototype retained the 210h.p. Continental IO-360-C rear engine of the Skymaster but production models were to be offered with alternative 235, 260 and 300 h.p. Lycomings. Proposed maximum speed with four persons on board was 156 to 171 m.p.h. Estimated range with 76 gallons of fuel 1,002 to 1260 miles - depending on the engine.
Apparently, one of the prototypes shared the fate of the Pinto's reputation. I found a basic article on Wikipedia and doing a quick Google search revealed that a different configuration had also been built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVE_Mizar
Mike
Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) Mizar.
A mating of the Ford Pinto with the Cessna Skymaster. The Prototype retained the 210h.p. Continental IO-360-C rear engine of the Skymaster but production models were to be offered with alternative 235, 260 and 300 h.p. Lycomings. Proposed maximum speed with four persons on board was 156 to 171 m.p.h. Estimated range with 76 gallons of fuel 1,002 to 1260 miles - depending on the engine.
Apparently, one of the prototypes shared the fate of the Pinto's reputation. I found a basic article on Wikipedia and doing a quick Google search revealed that a different configuration had also been built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVE_Mizar
Mike
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Oh yeah... the AWFUL Mizar! Contrary to the Waterman, Taylor, Stout-Spratt or Convair flying cars, this was NOT designed from the start as a flying car, and... well... it showed. Not that the idea of mating a set of wings and a tail to an existing car is really bad in itself, but obviously resistance to the strains that are inherent to flying were not built-in when you got a Ford Pinto. Until someone comes with a practical, foldable and safe add-on that can be grafted to just about any car on the market (tough luck) I don't think we'll see anything but dedicated vehicles, such as the recent Terrafugia for instance.
royabulgaf
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Trouble is, people expect different thing from cars and aircraft. I was at an airshow a couple of years ago, and one of those new small bizjets was there (Eclipse?) I looked into the interior, and it reminded me in size, space, and amenities of my grandmother's '69 Beetle. No way anyone is going to run around in that. People will pay upwards of $mil for that in an aircraft, but when you land, you're tooling around in a srtipped down Mini? Not when every airport of note has car rental facility or at least an Enterprise courtesy phone.
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It's just one of the many Flybys I've produced for Flight Journal magazine.Stargazer2006 said:
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For those who may not know what the dreaded Mizar looked like:
Source: Would you go flying in a Ford Pinto?
Source: Would you go flying in a Ford Pinto?
Prior to the fatal accident, the AVE Mizar was intended to appear in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun starring Roger Moore. Instead, the winged AMC Matador X coupe flying sequences were achieved using a radio-controlled model.
Enjoy your $50,000 parking-lot whoopsie, too. I don't see roadable aircraft / flying cars ever becoming a reality without magic supermaterials, unless the one and only road task the aircraft has is to drive home from your home airport and park in your garage. I'm not sure why that would be infinitely superior to leaving a beater car in the airport parking lot...royabulgaf said:
OM
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Triton said:Prior to the fatal accident, the AVE Mizar was intended to appear in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun starring Roger Moore. Instead, the winged AMC Matador X coupe flying sequences were achieved using a radio-controlled model.
...HAW! Try this with a Ford Pinto
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"A mating of the Ford Pinto with the Cessna Skymaster."
That's what happened when you didn't pay attention to Wavy Gravy.
Flying cars are like amphibious cars, but more expensive. There are two fundamental engineering problems.
The first is that airplanes fly from airports that have lots of room, and wide is good on anything that flies, but that cars are width limited. The biggest Eldo was 8 feet wide, which is a missile wingspan.
The second is that cars have to deal with bumps and potholes, every time they move, without falling apart or rattling the occupants to bits, and are expected to withstand minor impacts and be driven the repair shop. That's one reason why a Cirrus, with a cabin sized around a BMW 7-series, has an empty weight less than that of a BMW Mini.
But the other question (which applies to amphibious cars as well) is: What problem are you trying to solve? If it's convenient point-to-point flight - well, you still have to get to an airfield to take off, and I'll bet it took longer to assemble and preflight an AeroCar than it did to move you and your stuff from a car to an airplane. The answer to that problem is VTOL or ultra-STOL, and authorities that will let you take off and land on fields and roads.
Mind you an Amphicar is cool in a strange way. I remember seeing one with the vanity plate I FLOAT, to which I thought "hopefully".
That's what happened when you didn't pay attention to Wavy Gravy.
Flying cars are like amphibious cars, but more expensive. There are two fundamental engineering problems.
The first is that airplanes fly from airports that have lots of room, and wide is good on anything that flies, but that cars are width limited. The biggest Eldo was 8 feet wide, which is a missile wingspan.
The second is that cars have to deal with bumps and potholes, every time they move, without falling apart or rattling the occupants to bits, and are expected to withstand minor impacts and be driven the repair shop. That's one reason why a Cirrus, with a cabin sized around a BMW 7-series, has an empty weight less than that of a BMW Mini.
But the other question (which applies to amphibious cars as well) is: What problem are you trying to solve? If it's convenient point-to-point flight - well, you still have to get to an airfield to take off, and I'll bet it took longer to assemble and preflight an AeroCar than it did to move you and your stuff from a car to an airplane. The answer to that problem is VTOL or ultra-STOL, and authorities that will let you take off and land on fields and roads.
Mind you an Amphicar is cool in a strange way. I remember seeing one with the vanity plate I FLOAT, to which I thought "hopefully".
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Even Roland Payen got in on the act, with the
Payen Pa.65 'Aeracar', from 1958. This was
actually 80% completed, but never flew.
Engine, 180hp Lycoming, and it was based on
a Citroen 2CV chassis...
From 'Air Enthusiast' no. 68, March/April 1997,
pp. 33-44.
cheers,
Robin.
Payen Pa.65 'Aeracar', from 1958. This was
actually 80% completed, but never flew.
Engine, 180hp Lycoming, and it was based on
a Citroen 2CV chassis...
From 'Air Enthusiast' no. 68, March/April 1997,
pp. 33-44.
cheers,
Robin.
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I noticed the Martain aircar discussion and just wanted to chime in. This car was built around 1950 with plywood which was soaked in water and molded. It had an bi plane engine with the propeler reversed. This allowed it to drive on the street, go in the water, and also fly. This car spent many years in my fathers shop before being donated to the museum in Denver. Mr. Martain and Albert Hadan built this vehicle and had many talks with the military on selling the design. I have a video of the car boating around in a lake then driving straight out from the boat ramp. Then they drove it down the street and it would easily travel at 60 comfortably. They then took it to the airport and the video shows it getting off the ground by at least 6 to 7 feet. They didn't want to get in the air any farther because the plane/boat/car was made of just plywood and this was their only one. I guess they didn't want to risk it. Just wanted to say that this design was way ahead of anything produced lately and these two get no credit on creating it. I will try and get the video on youtube of the car flying, driving and boating around the local lake. Oh yea, the Martain aircar was created in Nebraska...Omaha.
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