FAA Gives Terrafugia the Go-Ahead
The Terrafugia Transition is a prototype automobile-aircraft that is about the closest thing to a flying car that we have. It's street legal and it can fly, and now the FAA has granted the Woburn, Massachusetts-based company exemption from weight and stall-speed limits so the Transition flying car can be certified as a light sport aircraft (LSA), according to Aviation Week.
A proof-of-concept Transition flying car prototype first flew in 2009, and a second-generation prototype (seen above) was developed in 2012. Terrafugia is working to complete a third-generation prototype by late 2016 or early 2017, and they hope to begin deliveries of the hybrid vehicle after flight-testing can be conducted on the third-generation prototype.
To meet highway-safety requirements, the Transition needs to be heavier than the 1,320-pound limit the FAA has set for LSAs, which lead Terrafugia to apply for a waiver from the limit in 2014. The stall speed of the flying car is also inevitably going to be above the 45-kt. maximum for LSAs, but certain automotive safety features like a safety cage and crumple zone could be beneficial in general aviation, leading the FAA to waive the weight and stall-speed limits for the Transition. It's a big win for the car, which still faces a host of challenges before it can really come to market.
The TF-X is a wildly ambitious flying car concept, also from Terrafugia, that the company hopes will be the culmination of all their work developing the technology. The TF-X would magically transform from a luxury sedan to a tiltrotor-style aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing, and of traveling through the air at 200 mph. Terrafugia has an optimistic timeline of 8 to 12 years to develop the TF-X.
A number of other companies are also chasing the dream of a flying car, including the Ehang flying taxi-basically a large drone that you can sit in-which was recently approved for flight tests in Nevada.
The TF-X is a decade away by the most friendly estimates, and the Ehang is completely autonomous and has a range of only about 20 miles. The Terrafugia Transition, on the other hand, exists as a proof-of-concept, meets highway safety regulations, and it flies. The automobile-aircraft will be reserved primarily for wealthy private pilots who can drive to a local airport and take off from the runway, but damn will it be cool.
Source: Aviation Week
