Journal # 10, March 22, 2009

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/it-car-plane-no-its-terrafugia-transition-bit-both

Do you remember the television show The Jetsons? They all drove around in flying cars and sidewalks that were conveyor belts. Well, we are not quite to the point of conveyor belts replacing sidewalks, but we have finally developed a flying car. It’s called the Terrafugia Transition and on March 5th even though it only managed to stay airborne for 37 seconds, it became the first car in flight. It might not look quite as cool as the flying automobiles from the Jetsons but it will do the same thing, fly. The car actually transforms into a plane within 30 seconds. The cabin includes fold away controls for steering the plane. Because of its looks many people are calling it the roadable aircraft instead of the flying car. The car aspect of the car uses roughly 30 miles per gallon to run the engine that not only controls the front wheels of the car but also the same engine controls the pusher-propeller. In the air it can reach up to 115 miles per hour and can travel up to a range of 450 miles. One of the great things about the “roadable aircraft” is that it is small enough to fit into a regular sized garage and the doors on the vehicle actually resemble normal car doors. This is only a prototype but it is already a monumental advance in technology. Terrafugia has said that they already have 40 orders placed for these new high tech cars/airplanes. They will be sold for roughly $150,000 and will begin to be made next year.
I think this probably one of the coolest things I have heard. Everyone thinks the future is going to have flying cars. Well this is the future. This is a great advancement in the automobile and aircraft industry. This is also good because its kind of eco-friendly with the airplane engine using unleaded gas instead of aviation fuel. I think we are in the future right now and this is one step closer to everyone having these flying cars or “roadable aircrafts”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5944201.ece