Moller Skycar. Who needs roads and airports?

[earthhaven]

At tonight's meeting we had a discussion about airports and roads and such.  :plane:

http://www.moller.com/skycar/

I've gots to get me one of these!

....that pesky FFA.

Just one more reason we don't need the government running our lives.

[FTL_Ian]

The FAA is essentially the reason why we aren't already flying in these.   

[Gabo]

The FAA is essentially the reason why we aren't already flying in these.   

Yea that's what I was thinking while I was reading this from the FAQ...

"A FAA certified model is more than four years away. We already have over 100 reservations for the FAA certified models. The timing of the models available to the public will depend on the speed of the government in certifying the vehicle as airworthy. Moller has little or no control in this process."


Looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer.   

[Pat McCotter]

Cruising speed of 275MPH. Wow, talk about urban sprawl!

[9thmoon]

I can't wait to get one!  I'm already saving up!
Geez, this is 2006, we were supposed to have these 15 years ago!

Here in Seattle at the Boeing Museum of Flight, they have an awesome display about Moller. 

Want, want, want.

[KBCraig]

Cruising speed of 275MPH. Wow, talk about urban sprawl!

It would reduce the sprawl, if you define "sprawl" as expanding suburbs, clinging to the metro area.

An hour's commute would be 200+ miles, versus 30-60. That's not sprawl -- that's living somewhere else entirely!

Kevin

[srqrebel]

Hey it's great to see Paul Moller getting such favorable recognition here.  He may very well be the twenty-first century Henry Ford.  I have been a big fan of Moller since I first heard about him seven years ago.  I made a speech about the Skycar in college two years ago, and have a Skycar poster on my wall.   

I have two model Skycars which I ordered off his website, they are really cool stuff!

One reason I find this to be a very exciting invention, is because once the automobile becomes obsolete, we won't even have to worry about who'll fund the highways - they will all be computer generated air highways!  Also, no more traffic jams and roads under construction.  Paul Moller has also designed the Skycar to fly on autopilot with no human override mechanism - you simply program in your destination and let the autopilot take care of the rest!  Just think, no more drunk drivers, the worst they could do is wind up at the wrong destination.  Move over State, hello free market!

[Michael Fisher]

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr17987.htm

[Dreepa]

It would be kinda interesting to see what kind of lawsuits would occur with accidents.
I mean the accidents will be in 3d so someone could land on my house.

[tracysaboe]

These sorts of things were actually being developed back in the mid 60s.

Then the International Highway system. (Read. Big subsidy to trucking industry, and redistrubing wealth from some towns to other more politiclaly connected towns, etc.) Because cars were now so much more usefull -- there wasn't any incentive to contunie experienting with them.

We would have all been flying around like the Jetson's for awhile now if it wasn't for road socialism and the FAA.

TRacy

[burnthebeautiful]

I think I'd be a bit scared of riding in a flying car, having to duck and bob up and down left and right to avoid hitting stuff all the time. But it would still be awesome if they were allowed.

[srqrebel]

I think I'd be a bit scared of riding in a flying car, having to duck and bob up and down left and right to avoid hitting stuff all the time. But it would still be awesome if they were allowed.

I think you're missing the point, burn.  These things have no human pilots, they fly strictly on autopilot, guided by GPS, and presumably can automatically detect the distance and speed of any other craft in the area and thus adjust to safe speeds and distances from each other.  They would not fly haphazardly throughout the open skies, but stick to computer generated air highways much like our surface highways, complete with designated entrance and exit "ramps".

They also have awesome safety features in the event of engine failure, from having twice as many engines (8 nacelles in all) as necessary to stay aloft, to parachutes that ensure a soft landing in the unlikely event of a complete mid-air failure.

[Michael Fisher]

We'll have to hack them so we can fly around on any route at will. 

[felix.benner]

This doesn't look to comfortable to me. Also, if you'r traveling in a straight line you wouldn't need that much speed. I'd say let's build some well armed "city car"-version and use them as protest-flight against both air regulations and patents.   

[Russell Kanning]

especially to get just a person from here to there.