Flying Car

[Renegade]

Well, here's another flying story:

http://rt.com/news/t...lying-car-plane-392/

For decades science fiction writers, and their more practical cousins, engineers, have dreamt of building a flying car. Now that one is about to arrive on the market, the real question emerges: what are flying cars actually for?

US company Terrafugia has variously labeled its Transition model as a “roadable aircraft” and a “street-legal airplane”, perhaps in a quest to avoid the inherent fantastical connotations of “flying car.” Particularly when they are trying to make customers shell out $279,000 for each one.

But functionally, the Transition is definitely a flying car.

Practical or not, it definitely seems cool!

[mahesh2k]

Fuel. That seems to be the problem here. People are already wasting fuel in NASCAR/Formula 1. If this flying car gets into the market, fuel sources on earth will go down in one year. Another point is about safety. Jetson animation is hard to realize on practical  terms.

[Renegade]

Fuel. That seems to be the problem here. People are already wasting fuel in NASCAR/Formula 1. If this flying car gets into the market, fuel sources on earth will go down in one year. Another point is about safety. Jetson animation is hard to realize on practical  terms.

-mahesh2k (April 05, 2012, 09:33 PM)

I'm not so sure that fuel really is a problem. Countless oil wells in the US are capped. The price of oil is largely artificial.

The vehicle itself is quite light, so as a car, I'm betting that it's fuel consumption is lower than many others.

I'll skip the entire alternative energy thing though -- but suffice it to say that there are plenty of buried energy sources. (Search for something like "buried energy patent" or "free energy" or something like that if you're interested.)

[barney]

I dimly recall a TV series starring Robert (Bob) Cummings with something similar.  It was based upon the then VW Bug.  Never saw any reason why it wouldn't work, but I'd hate to see the traffic jams at rush hour  .

[barney]

Another point is about safety. Jetson animation is hard to realize on practical  terms.

-mahesh2k (April 05, 2012, 09:33 PM)

Hm-m-m ... have you looked at the drivers around you on the road today?

[barney]

People are already wasting fuel in NASCAR/Formula 1.

-mahesh2k (April 05, 2012, 09:33 PM)

Wel-l-l-l ... no.  Those races, while seemingly extravagant, have engendered significant fuel economy in everyday engines, have made tires much safer, have made vehicles much safer.  Apart from a certain entertainment value, those racing venues have made the vehicles we drive today immeasurably safer than otherwise would have been.  They are both entertainment to some and research facilities to others.  Without the racing element, we'd likely be still riding around on vehicles with hard, solid rubber tires w/o the benefit of seat belts, and with higher carbon emission energy plants driving those vehicles.  Not all research is done in laboratory conditions by folk in white robes.

While it's unlikely that flying automobiles will gain practicality in the near future, the mere possibility will drive improvements and innovations in the aircraft industry and in the accident avoidance industry.  So fuel is not the driving factor here ... innovation is.

[mahesh2k]

My knowledge in automobile is pretty much shallow, so I don't know any known improvement as of now. I see a lot of changes in electronics world but I have yet to see any 2-4 wheeler cars for domestic market that consumes less fuel. So far the cars in market are in moderate points when it comes to fuel.

Most of the time the racing is around speed and control, not fuel saving. I doubt they have any goals or even research on fuel saving front in these races. I agree that innovation is driving factor, but it's hard to notice such innovation from domestic front if the fuel part is ignored. Sure, we can see A-list people surfing on moon station, even today, unless it gets cheap in domestic market, it hardly gets noticed.

[Renegade]

My knowledge in automobile is pretty much shallow, so I don't know any known improvement as of now. I see a lot of changes in electronics world but I have yet to see any 2-4 wheeler cars for domestic market that consumes less fuel. So far the cars in market are in moderate points when it comes to fuel.

Most of the time the racing is around speed and control, not fuel saving. I doubt they have any goals or even research on fuel saving front in these races. I agree that innovation is driving factor, but it's hard to notice such innovation from domestic front if the fuel part is ignored. Sure, we can see A-list people surfing on moon station, even today, unless it gets cheap in domestic market, it hardly gets noticed.

-mahesh2k (April 06, 2012, 12:34 AM)

Fuel efficiency has been largely buried. Search for patents on fuel efficiency or energy and you'll turn up a wealth of things that have been buried.

So it's no surprise that we've never seen a fuel efficient vehicle -- all the cheap/free energy technologies get killed off.

Here's a starting point that describes some different energy technologies:

http://www.wanttoknow.info/freeenergy

There are lots of links there to MSM stories as well.