Terrafugia

Dana said:
I was gonna say Gremlins can fly, but then I remembered it wasn't a Gremlin, it was a Ford Pinto:
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Well, gremlins CAN fly..

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Zeldman said:
Man, the Matador is still one of the best looking cars made. It just needed 100+ more HP...
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Sorry, friend, but no amount of power could make that turd look good. On the other hand, I always did find the Gremlin to be kind of cool looking. I guess beauty really IS in the eye of the beholder.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
The "foolish investors" are Geely. You know, the Volvo people.
And most of the US staff is now out of work.
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FWIW Volvo's initial and long-term quality have consistently trended downward since Geely took over in 2010; on the other hand, the brand's sales have steadily increased. Make of that what you will.

As for the 80-100 people reportedly now out of work, well... not to sound unfeeling, but the "they bought their tickets..." bit from the movie "Airplane" comes to mind. Surely they had to see this coming? It defies belief that so many could have been gainfully employed by this thing.
 
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In the meantime, this cool creation has gone beyond the vaporware phase and took flight.. IN NITRA!! A really cool city by the way for any lovers of brutalist architecture, we have family there

Yahoo Finance https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/aircar-prototype-flying-car-bmw-102046669.html

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Actually looks pretty cool, and reasonable

I really don't know what market exists for this, but it would technically solve the whole dilemma of finding transportation when you get to your destination.
 
At least that one looks cool. It may have a market, but it has no practical purpose for anyone.
 
Tantalum said:
I really don't know what market exists for this, but it would technically solve the whole dilemma of finding transportation when you get to your destination.
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Until you have to find an A&P who will come to town to sign off the door ding you got in the parking lot.

Nauga,
and the Walmart problem
 
nauga said:
Until you have to find an A&P who will come to town to sign off the door ding you got in the parking lot.

Nauga,
and the Walmart problem
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I just hope that there are options to colonize another planet before the Venn diagram of Wal Mart shoppers and flying car pilots shows any overlap.
 
Tantalum said:
In the meantime, this cool creation has gone beyond the vaporware phase and took flight.. IN NITRA!! A really cool city by the way for any lovers of brutalist architecture, we have family there
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He said he's got around $1M invested, so still cheaper than a Cirrus!
 
iamtheari said:
I just hope that there are options to colonize another planet before the Venn diagram of Wal Mart shoppers and flying car pilots shows any overlap.
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Strike Walmart, insert Fletcher Jones.

Nauga,
from below.
 
Does Terrafugia have to pass the same safety standards as a Ford or Chevy? If so, add 500# to the empty weight.
 
Brad Smith said:
Does Terrafugia have to pass the same safety standards as a Ford or Chevy? If so, add 500# to the empty weight.
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They received some waivers from DOT. If memory serves it dealt with mirrors, cameras and that kind of stuff, and it was for only a few years.
I believe the FAA also granted them some waivers, it was something like an extra hundred pounds and still qualify as LSA.

Tim
 
That’s a great idea. It’s not enough of a compromise so add compromises in safety for both planes and cars.
 
Read the article, they plan to capture 5% of the market in the US, which seems reasonable until you read further and he says the US market is 40,000, so his target is 2000. The problem is the ENTIRE US market (all pistons, turboprops and light business jets) is <2500. I see a disconnect. Not just in logic but between a fool and his money
 
Blatham489 said:
Read the article, they plan to capture 5% of the market in the US, which seems reasonable until you read further and he says the US market is 40,000, so his target is 2000. The problem is the ENTIRE US market (all pistons, turboprops and light business jets) is <2500. I see a disconnect. Not just in logic but between a fool and his money
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Perhaps he should park his Terrafugia next to the Raptor at Osh so they can compare marketing/business strategies. Creativity seems to be a big part of coming up with numbers for those two guys.
 
iamtheari said:
I just hope that there are options to colonize another planet before the Venn diagram of Wal Mart shoppers and flying car pilots shows any overlap.
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You're an arrogant Shoppist.
As a point of accuracy, it's Walmart.
 
Domenick said:
You're an arrogant Shoppist.
As a point of accuracy, it's Walmart.
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Thanks for correcting me on the name, which was evidently changed from Wal-Mart in 2018. That was long after they finished paying for my college education so I didn't notice. I'm far from a snob, I just don't think that most people who frequently shop at Walmart should be at the wheel of a flying car.

But I was taught to eliminate needless words, so I can more succinctly put it this way: I don't think that most people should be at the wheel of a car.
 
Forget for the moment the thought of Joe Sixpack flying anything. I want to see the road crash test results of the Terrafugia, or any other flying car.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
I want to see the road crash test results of the Terrafugia, or any other flying car.
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Do they need to meet the same standards as current passenger cars? Motorcycles don't, why not an exception for a new(ish) type of vehicle?

Nauga,
crumpled
 
nauga said:
Do they need to meet the same standards as current passenger cars? Motorcycles don't, why not an exception for a new(ish) type of vehicle?

Nauga,
crumpled
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Lol why not indeed
 
I was a bit surprised at the relatively small 160 hp motor, but their website, while visually beautiful, is scant on details. I couldn't find any details on speed, useful load, etc.

https://www.klein-vision.com/
 
Salty said:
At least that one looks cool. It may have a market, but it has no practical purpose for anyone.
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I wouldn't need a hangar, so my plane wouldn't always be 45 minutes away. I could pull out of my garage and drive to the closest airport in the direction I'm going. That means I could get from my door to downtown Houston in ~3 hours, with my car. That's a minimum of 1:30 time savings without traffic. Faster even than driving to DAL and taking Southwest. This would be fantastic for someone regularly commuting to say, small towns in west Texas, where there's airports in every county but few Ubers or rental cars.
 
Lindberg said:
I wouldn't need a hangar, so my plane wouldn't always be 45 minutes away. I could pull out of my garage and drive to the closest airport in the direction I'm going. That means I could get from my door to downtown Houston in ~3 hours, with my car. That's a minimum of 1:30 time savings without traffic. Faster even than driving to DAL and taking Southwest. This would be fantastic for someone regularly commuting to say, small towns in west Texas, where there's airports in every county but few Ubers or rental cars.
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You don't strike me as dumb enough to fly a plane that's been driving around city streets and parking anywhere with open access.
 
are people assuming that the flying car will be the daily driver?
 
Bob Noel said:
are people assuming that the flying car will be the daily driver?
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Give me a scenario where you aren't going to be driving and parking in public but will use this thing. The whole premise is to be able to fly somewhere and then not rent a car. You're not going to have secure parking or a motorcade to protect you while you're driving. A fender bender or door ding is an airworthiness issue.
 
Salty said:
You don't strike me as dumb enough to fly a plane that's been driving around city streets and parking anywhere with open access.
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Thank you, I think. But I park my airplane in public ramps all the time. And then I preflight it. I park in a garage at home and at work. If someone backed into my flying car while it was parked, I'd deal with it. Just like if someone backed into my non-flying car while it was parked. It'd probably be a more expensive problem, but plenty of people drive really expensive cars.
 
Lindberg said:
Thank you, I think. But I park my airplane in public ramps all the time. And then I preflight it. I park in a garage at home and at work. If someone backed into my flying car while it was parked, I'd deal with it. Just like if someone backed into my non-flying car while it was parked. It'd probably be a more expensive problem, but plenty of people drive really expensive cars.
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You are comparing an airport ramp with a public street and parking lot? Most airports I've seen at least have a fence around them. Not all, but all the ones I've left my plane unattended have.

I don't believe that is a rational comparison. JMO
 
Lindberg said:
Like visiting airports that aren't surrounded by fences.
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I visit them all the time. I even live on one. But I don’t leave my plane unattended parked publicly at them.
 
If I recall correctly, the Terrafugia vehicle was being made with some materials that are rather resilient to light strikes (like a shopping cart). Of course, it's been a few years since I visited their plant in Woburn or talked to their test pilot.
 
Bob Noel said:
If I recall correctly, the Terrafugia vehicle was being made with some materials that are rather resilient to light strikes (like a shopping cart).
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Which leads to the question, how hard a hit would you accept without inspection? Does lack of visible external damage mean anything about what happened underneath?

Nauga,
battered and bruised
 
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