MetaFilter posts tagged with flyingcar

Always Look Both Ways .... and UP !

Podkayne of Pasadena — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:01:04 -0800

What may well be the first flying car crash happenned today in British Columbia. A Maverick flying car crashed today for unknown reasons. No one was killed in the collision even though the car crashed, while in flight mode, just short of an elementary school. Jalopnick has a picture of the treed vehicle. The Maverick is powered in flight by a propeller and parasail combination. Watch the Skies!

Still waiting on the jetpacks, but...

blahblahblah — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:01:54 -0800

With the Terrafugia Transition flying car (or drivable plane) getting closer to production (though there are doubters), the company has released plans for the TF-X, which looks like the flying car of our dreams. The plans call for a hybrid electric fully-automated transforming car that can take-off and land vertically, travel 200 mph, and not require a pilots license. Flying cars are apparently hot again, with crowdfunded efforts, a mysterious Silicon Valley startup Zee.Aero, the UK's AugustWestland, and the AirMule getting into the game; all while Terrafugia is also developing a "flying humvee" for the military. Of course, we have seen this all before, including one of the first flying cars, which was built around a Ford Pinto and killed its inventors.

Finally, a flying car!

exogenous — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 07:04:54 -0800

Video: the Terrafugia Transition flying car goes for a drive and a flight. Press release. Previously. This is the first demonstrated flight of the vehicle at significant altitude (above ground effect).

Take that, flying cars that don't!

mhjb — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:07:30 -0800

I got you this delicious flying car [YT] Some outfit called ITEC seems to have built a street legal flying car that doesn't suck.

50 Worst Pageviews Ever

oneswellfoop — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:30:24 -0800

What do you do when you're supposed to come up with 50 separate webpages on a poorly defined topic? You come up with a mix of dangerous products (most of which were successful before their dangers were known), second-best technologies, just plain silly ideas, cool things that never caught on, uncool things that DID catch on and modern annoyances (including one that your website uses) to make "Time Magazine's 50 Worst Inventions" (link points to FULL LIST, or just refer to all the tags).
(I know, not the BEST of the web; just the MOST of the web)

High-Flying Hopes, But the Media Auto Know Better

terranova — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:06:59 -0800

First came the Whatsit/Arrowplane (1936) ("Model T's of the air for the common man") and the Arrowbile Flying Auto, three of which were flown to the National Air Races in 1937. Both were creations of Waldo Waterman. Then came Molt Taylor's Aerocar (a great success), followed by the Waterman Aerobile (a spectacular failure). In 1945, Robert Fulton introduced the Airphibian, and the CIA ordered several. Flash forward to today. There have been many promising flying cars. Terrafugia is marketing a $194,000 "drivable plane" which it intends to release in late 2009. It hasn't yet been test-flown. So why is it being heralded by media outlets as the "World's First Flying Car"? Previously.

The Auction You Missed

Fuzzy Skinner — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:48:17 -0800

You missed your chance to bid on the very last Sky Commuter Prototype in existence. The auction ended in January, but the eBay auction page is still up, with plenty of photos and info. (Final price: $131,700.)

Too long since the last flying car post.

StrikeTheViol — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:23:26 -0800

A newer, slightly more plausible flying car project. Some people take it more seriously than the king of vaporware skycars, whose designers are now working on a vaporware landspeeder(PDF). If you want something more available, keep your car and check out the Cessna SkyCatcher, no assembly required.

The flying Ford Pinto

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 21:27:39 -0800

Henry Smolinski and Hal Blake had a great idea: bolt the wings and engine of a Cessna to the body of 1971 Ford Pinto. Fly the Pinto to an airport near your destination, unlatch it from the wings, and drive it where you want to go. No need for rental cars...

It worked. Until the day it failed. Sometime late in 1973, Smolinski and Blake climbed aboard the "Mitzar" and rolled down the runway. During takeoff, the peculiar marriage of wheels and wings divorced, and the Advanced Vehicle Engineers found themselves sailing through the California sky in a very un-advanced vehicle, a wingless Pinto.

Pics here: 1, 2, 3

It's the year 2000; I was promised flying cars.

baylink — Sat, 22 Jul 2000 22:39:49 -0800

It's the year 2000; I was promised flying cars. I don't see the flying cars. Why are there no flying cars; why; why!?