As best I can tell, none of today’s “flying cars” is any more useful than the home designed, home built one that flew at Wittman Field and drove into Oshkosh in the early 1970’s.
BJC
BJC
Where have all the flying cars gone???
- Thread starter bmcj
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It seems to me that the multicopter configuration is one (of the few) that uniquely favors electric propulsion at the rotors over internal combustion (for control and redundancy reasons. Reliability and noise are also in their 'plus' column). Batteries have energy densities too low for many practical missions, but maybe fuel cell technology could be the answer in this case (fast "recharge," better energy densities). Some use cases (niche premium taxi services/VIP transportation, medical transport in built up areas, etc) might even wind up profitable even with some pretty hefty prices for the fuel cells. That's sometimes what it takes to start an industry.
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Bill-Higdon
Well-Known Member
The Reel answer is
"they all went BAck To The Future" with Marty McFly
"they all went BAck To The Future" with Marty McFly
Speedboat100
Well-Known Member
I invented a anti-resonator for my wind mill....but I guess it is as good as " flux-capasitor " in a DeLorean DMC-12.
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Speedboat100
Well-Known Member
The hottest car GMA T.50 has propeller in the rear.
There cannot be a long road from these kinda designs to a perfect flying car.
I mean you take enough real aeroplane features and blend them successfully into a flying car....and voila you are airborne in a touch of a button.
There cannot be a long road from these kinda designs to a perfect flying car.
I mean you take enough real aeroplane features and blend them successfully into a flying car....and voila you are airborne in a touch of a button.
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And yet, cars had fins for decades and somehow never turned into rocket ships . . .or fish.
Jimstix
Well-Known Member
Here's the rub. If you accept the following definition..."Flying Car: any non-ballistic, human carrying flying machine able to function out of ground effect that can also be legally operated on public roadways as a powered, wheeled vehicle" then most of what is on this string are not flying cars, they are flying "things" that may be better defined as personal helicopters or rotorcraft.
Adding the requirement to make it legally operated on public roadways I see it as a waste of engineering and resources, and the end result cannot be other than a technical compromise. The real use case of the vehicle is to provide door to door transportation, but as an aircraft, in current legislation, it cannot take off and land except airfields, so for the roadable aircraft, you drive it to the local airport, fly it from there to another local airport, close to your destination and drive it the last leg. This is only to make it fit the current legislation. So much time can be saved by flying directly to your destination. Adapt the legislation and build inexpensive vertipads at every "door" and there is no need for the vehicle to be roadable. The aircraft would have much better performance as the design is unburdened with the roadable requirement. Call it whatever you want, personal helicopter, rotorcraft, or as media "passenger drone", but as the vehicle use is "car replacement", I'm ok people calling it a flying car.
Depends on the mission. In many places/times the weather eliminates the possibility of travel in the air when ground transport on existing highways is still quite practical.
In my part of the world with ground blizards and white out conditions the opposite is often true.
For sure, but I recommend working from home or taking the car when the weather doesn't cooperate.
You haven't tried to work from home with a technology challenged wife doing the same due to the virus and is working for a company that needs a COO and more than the one IT guy that can't understand why you can't turn off a computer at the office he has you remoted through to do your work?
Walking to work in the blizzard starts to look like a good idea.
delta
Well-Known Member
Eventually... 3d graphene printed stol trikes will be economical enough that every teen can and will afford one especially when it looks like a dragon.
Dan Thomas
Well-Known Member
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Wishful thinking never flew anything. Not even a paper airplane. Until one flies every day, all day, at Oshkosh, it's just wishful thinking.
Dan Thomas
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More correctly, "Been there, tried that."
Flying cars are like RC foam models. When when power to weight ratios go off the charts, you can make almost anything fly. Composite construction and additive manufacturing are reducing weight, and electric propulsion is getting more and more efficient. When those two trends reach a certain point, then flying cars become technically a practical reality. They will never be efficient, but then neither is an executive helicopter whether you are considering energy or dollars expended per mile compared to more efficient forms of transportation. And there is always the tyranny of physics--action and reaction--so helicopters will always have downwash, and VTOL designs with higher disc loadings will heave even more obnoxious downwash. You will never see a Walmart parking lot full of VTOLs, you wouldn't be able to cross it without getting blown over.
Speedboat100
Well-Known Member
Let mr Sam Bousfield finish his design....I will do it if he cannot.
I cannot make the Volvo fly, but I have something in my sleeve.
Speedboat100
Well-Known Member
That is why they are called roadable aircraft !?
Anyway....as multicopters are being introduced as personal taxis....they don't autorotate and have no reserves....who is gonna pay the bill when one 450 kilo thing hits a crowded bus in the downtown ?
Tiger Tim
Well-Known Member
I sure could have used a flying car on the weekend. I had to run an errand that ended up being three hours of sitting in traffic each way when I figure I could have been about an hour if I went car-plane-car. Too bad everyone tries to make a flying car for the masses when a flying car for the weirdos could get away with a lot more compromise and have a better chance at success.
Speedboat100
Well-Known Member
Flying car should be able to deploy the wings at speed...therefore a typical highway should have a lane for flying car take off and landing ( always near big cities )....when things progress. Typical GA airports are often too far from the city centres.
People inadvertently hit the gear retract switch while on the ground. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the guy who inadvertently hits the wing fold switch while in the air.
