It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s a flying car! The flying car is something of fictional stories from the 50s and 60s and now it is a big step closer to being a reality. At least a reality in what is possible but there is sure to be a lot of road – or air – left to determine how the sky will turn into a transportation highway. But, for now, we can check out the Terrafugia Transition!
The Terrafugia Transition – The Flying Car Approved by the FAA
The Transition has already slipped a few times from its ambitious timeline but it is now closer than before. Once promised to be available for sale in 2015, it now is looking at a sale date of 2022 for the actual transition model. The air version is available for sale now.
The Terrafugia Transition will be able to fly up to 10,000 feet in the air and travel at a speed of up to 100 mph. It is designed to be able to slip into a single car garage and the transition from road to air machine is supposed to take just a minute to work.
The idea is for someone to be able to fly this to various air fields and instantly transition into a car to take off on the road. Of course, to actually get this and do that, you will need a pilot’s license and a driver’s license.
The Transition has up to a 400 mile range and can be fueled either with premium gasoline or 100LL airplane fuel. It has two seats and weighs just 1,300 pounds with a 27 foot wingspan – which, of course, are designed to retract to drive on roads and fit in garages.
Back in 2018, this was slated to cost $400,000 so this is not something for everyone. But, it should drop in price when mainline production kicks in. This could be a fantastic option for those that are in the post-Work-from-Home lifestyle yet still needing to get into corporate headquarters from time to time for meetings. Imagine moving 300 miles away to a cheaper locale and using this to make those meetings. It would take a 3 hour flight and you could be off and on the road right after landing. Not bad!
It Gets Better – the TF-X!
The company is working on other models as well that include the TF-X, a 4-seater and semi-autonomous flying cars – I mean, why not! These will likely not be seen for a few years yet but it is nice to see where the company plans on taking this line.
For those wondering about the particulars, the FAA issued the Transition a Special Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) airworthiness certificate which opens the door a bit more to the flying car future.
