The Terrafugia Transition Flying Car Enters Test Drive Phase

by Tina Kells | January 12, 2009 at 11:59 am

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The Terrafugia Transition, a flying car, has entered the test drive phase of its development and if all goes well it could be available for sale by the middle of 2010. As a child of the Jetsons era all I can say on the whole issue of flying cars is "better late than never."

Like so many Gen-Xers I fully expected the new millennium to be well populated with flying cars. When Y2K mania struck and the baby boomers were in a panic that a computer programming glitch was going to destroy modern civilization, I wasn't worried.

Despite the hype I had faith in Bill Gates and just knew that the computers on which we had all come to rely would not let humanity down. When Y2K mania began flooding the globe in 1999 the only thing I, and so many of my Gen-X peers, really wondered was "Where are all the flying cars?"

So as we reach the end of decade one of the new millennium I am happy to report that flying cars are finally a reality. Although the Terrafugia Transition flying car prototype is not the brightly colored bubble topped saucer that the Jetsons creators envisioned, it is a car that can fly none-the-less and that is good enough for me.

Finally, the flying cars we expected to be present in the 21st century have arrived. Thank you Terrafugia!

If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.
Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit in a garage.

Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”

The Transition, developed by former NASA engineers, is powered by the same 100 bhp engine on the ground and in the air.

Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas at a cruising speed of 115 mph. Up to now, however, it has only been tested on roads at up to 90 mph.