Oh yes, you read it right! The world’s first flying car that can travel at 100 miles per hour and fly up to 10,000 feet has received an official clearance for take-off by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the USA. The “Flying Car” officially got the clearance certificate (the Terrafugia Transition ‘roadable aircraft’ a Special Light-Sport Aircraft airworthiness certificate) by the FAA which gave a green signal to the car to unfurl it’s wings and take off into the blue sky.
A glimpse of it’s features:
It has the capacity to travel up to 100 miles an hour at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
The aircraft has a 27-foot wingspan that folds down to a size small enough for the whole thing to fit inside a single car garage, and a full air and road model of the two-seater craft is planned for release in 2022.
The flying car is powered by a 100 horsepower fuel-injected engine.
The plane engine can run on either premium gasoline or 100LL airplane fuel.
The car is powered by a hybrid-electric motor.
The vehicle has four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes, a rigid carbon fiber safety cage and an airframe parachute.
It weighs roughly 1,300 pounds (590 kgs) and has fixed landing gear.
It has a range of around 400 miles, and safety features include an airframe parachute and a carbon fibre safety cage.
The Dream Project (C) dailyhunt
(C) LAD BIBLE
The License:
Well, only a driving license is not enough to be in the driver’s seat. Those interested in taking the craft for a spin will need both a driver’s license and a sport pilot’s certificate.
As per a Daily Mail report, the flight-only version of the craft is now available to pilots and flight schools. You need to wait a little longer before its car components could be made ‘street legal’ and it isn’t quite allowed on the road just yet as the automobile-airplane hybrid still needs to meet the road safety standards. For now, pilots can buy an air-only model that runs on both car fuel and aircraft fuel if they want to take it for a spin ahead of time.
(C) dailyhunt
Behind the technological marvel:
The company behind this huge innovation is the Chinese-owned Terrafugia. Praising his team’s efforts during ‘an extremely challenging pandemic year’, Terrafugia’s general manager Kevin Colburn said, “Our team remained focused, improved our quality system, completed the critical aspects of the design, built the vehicle, completed 80 days of flight testing, delivered 150 technical documents and successfully passed the FAA audit.”
Colburn added: “This is a major accomplishment that builds momentum in executing our mission to deliver the world’s first practical flying car.”
Note: As per the 2018 NBC News report, this automobile-airplane hybrid wouldn’t be very pocket-friendly. It would be priced at $400,000.
So to own one you better start saving now and you can thank me later
