Terrafugia

Terrafugia is a private company based in Woburn, Massachusetts that is developing The Transition, a roadable aircraft that the company describes as a "Personal Air Vehicle". The aircraft is designed to change configurations, enabling it to operate as a traditional road vehicle and as a general aviation airplane.

The roadable aircraft plans to incorporate new technology such as automated folding wings. The aero-auto hybrid will be designed to be capable of landing at an airport and then folding the wings in and becoming a roadable vehicle.

The Transition "Personal Air Vehicle" is expected to be released in late 2009 with an operational prototype expected in 2008. The estimated purchase price is $198,000. Owners will drive the car from their garage to an airport where they will then be able to fly within a range of 100 to 500 miles. It will carry two people plus luggage and will operate on a single tank of premium unleaded gas.

Company history

Terrafugia was founded by graduates of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduates of the MIT Sloan School of Management. Terrafugia was incorporated in 2006.

Advantages

If a pilot of a light wing loading aircraft encounters bad weather today, s/he is currently faced with three options:

# Turn around, go home, and drive a car instead
# Divert to the nearest airport, and sit and wait out the weather
# Continue flying into the bad weather

None of these options are psychologically attractive to pilots, and the third is known as "get-there-itis"; it is a significant cause of general aviation accidents. The Terrafugia Transition would give private pilots a safe 4th alternative: divert to the nearest airport and continue the trip on the ground. While the Transition will be more sensitive to gusty conditions than a normal car, that fourth option will save lives.

The flexibility of being able to drive on the road and store the vehicle at home in a garage will also save pilots money.

The Rotax 912S engine that they are using is also better for the environment than most airplane engines because it runs on super-unleaded gasoline instead of 100LL (low-lead avgas).

kepticism

Some in the aerospace industry are skeptical that the approach taken by the Terrafugia team will be successful. The Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) categorization the company’s vehicle is designed to meet (as specified by the FAA) is quite stringent. A vehicle which contains all basic requirements for flying and driving and also meets the LSA classification requires sacrificing some performance capability which has the potential to negate the product’s utility. ["IEEE Spectrum:" [http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan07/4835 No Happy Landing for Latest Twist on Sci-Fi Staple, January 2007] ]

For example, the LSA classification requires that the gross weight of the vehicle be no greater than 600 kilograms (1320 pounds). Additionally, the company currently has plans to only get the aircraft certified for flight in clear weather (known as VFR, or Visual Flight Rules), because the pilot would always have the option of driving. [ [http://www.terrafugia.com/FAQowner.html Terrafugia FAQ] ] However, a 600 kilogram vehicle is extremely light (lighter than the original Mini Cooper, but almost twice as long, for comparison), and Transition’s lifting surfaces are stowed along the sides of the vehicle creating a relatively large side surface area. This combination makes the vehicle highly susceptible to cross-winds and gusts while being driven, which is exactly the kind of weather a user would be forced to drive in.

References

* [http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19499/?a=f “Flying Car About to Take Off”] Michael Gibson, "Technology Review", Wednesday, October 10, 2007
* [http://www.aflyer.com/featured_stories_oct2007_3.htm “Flying Car – Terrafugia Transition: Is it succession or progression?”] , John Cilio, "Atlantic Flyer", October, 2007

External links

* [http://www.terrafugia.com/ Terrafugia Homepage]
* [http://news.com.com/Flying-car+firm+releases+simulator%2C+takes+deposits/2100-1008_3-6112862.html?tag=newsmap "Flying-car firm releases simulator, takes deposits" article] from "CNET News"