'Flying car' goes to market
By Irene Klotz
Discovery Channel
1/22/2009

The aptly named Transition takes a stab at bridging the gap between
automobiles and airplanes. Some people call it a flying car. The company
designing and selling the vehicle prefers the term "roadable aircraft."

Either way, it boils down to this: You sit down behind the steering wheel,
drive to the runway, unfold two wings and take off. You can fly 500 miles
on a tank of gas — regular unleaded —and when you land, you simply fold up
the wings and drive where you want to go. At the end of the day, you fly
back, drive home and park inside your garage.

Terrafugia, of Woburn, Mass., is not the first firm to attempt what may be
the ultimate hybrid.

"It's probably a concept that people have been dreaming up since there have
been airplanes and cars," said Dick Knapinski with the Experimental
Aircraft Association, a 55-year-old aviation group based in Oshkosh, Wisc.

A company called Aerocar of Longview, Wash., debuted one of the first
flying cars in 1949. The company built six prototypes, one of which is
sitting in the EAA's museum, but never went into production.

Terrafugia, founded in 2006 by a group of MIT students, has taken deposits
for more than 40 Transitions and plans to begin deliveries in 2010, said
Richard Gersh, vice president of business development.

The vehicles sell for $194,000.

Advances in materials and propulsion technologies are among the reasons why
Terrafugia is in position for commercial success. But equally important,
says Knapinski, is an easing of government regulations on private aircraft
and pilot licensing.

In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration created a new category of
aircraft and license for sport aviation, an attempt to re-awaken interest
in flying after steady drops in the number of licensed pilots.

In the United States, about 600,000 people are licensed to fly aircraft, a
drop of 25 percent since 1980, Knapinski said.

"The FAA and the aviation industry realized there has to be a way to get
people interested in flying. Even the airline pilots of today had to start
somewhere with basic flying. There had to be an entry point that was
practical and affordable," he said.

Sport pilot licenses don't require as many hours of training as private and
commercial pilot licenses, though sport fliers are not eligible to take off
and land at runways with air traffic control towers. The medical
requirements for sport pilots also are less stringent than for other types
of pilot licenses, matching what is needed for a driver's license.

"What the FAA and the government say by having that rule is that these
vehicles have the same level of complexity as motor vehicles," Knapinski
told Discovery News. "You fly in non-complex airspace at relatively low
speed."

Regulations covering the new category of sport aviation aircraft likewise
are reduced.

"It gives us an opportunity," said Terrafugia's Gersh. "We could never
compete with Cessna or Boeing."

One of the biggest obstacles facing a company like Terrafugia in launching
a personal aircraft is not technical in nature or even cost, added
Knapinski. It's perception.

"The comfort level for a significant percentage of the population is not
there," Knapinski said. "They just don't believe they can operate this type
of machine."

Perhaps having an airplane under the same roof as the family car will be
just the ticket.