Mass-Produced
I want to see these masses who can pay the million :)
A million doesn't get you what it used to, and you'd be shocked at how many quiet millionaires there are out there.
There might be a lot more millionaires than before, but it’d still be a much smaller number who could drop $1M on a flying car.
It's cheaper than a private jet and there are LOADS of them buzzing around polluting the skies.
Way more expensive than most private aircraft, though.
I'm still of an opinion that private aircraft is for sports and for farmers and for doctors\firefighters\rescuers in remote areas like rural Siberia. And, of course, for people wiping their ass with money.
It's unfortunately not the same as having a spaceship in some sci-fi universe. The word "ship" hints why, the legal infrastructure, the expenses and most of all required qualifications make flying a plane more demanding.
I don't see how making a weird car-like plane changes that.
This looks to me like yet another in a surprisingly long line of airplanes that are also designed to be driven on roads in someway, but they’re basically all noticeably worse at either task than vehicles designed specifically for one of those tasks. It also invariably ends up more expensive than two specialized vehicles, so there’s never really any reason to build these.
That may be true, but private jets are significantly more practical than this. If you've got private jet money, you can just afford to buy a jet and a decent car at your destination.
With the range of a cessna skyhawk ($400k-$500k aircraft), no way it'll replace a private jet.
OK. Yes, then I want to get this shock :)
an assembly line that can make 2 per year still qualifies as mass production. At the level of people who can afford a million you can't sell more than a couple per year anyway. There are a few car companies that have production numbers in that range.
A million and get a pilot licence.
I mean you can get a licence for 20-30k, the maintenance is deadly on a plane though, you could buy a very nice car each year on that money.
It’s not a flying car. It’s an airplane.
It's by definition trying to merge two opposite specs into one vehicle using the worst aspects of the two.
“The AirCar fulfills a lifelong dream to bring the freedom of flight into the hands of everyday people.”
The price? Between $800,000 and $1 million, depending on specs.
Don't forget the cost and time investment in getting your pilots licence.
Also there is no way this is going to be legal to drive on public roads in most countries - just look at the massive tail boom that sticks out. This is just a fancy aircraft for people that want an overcomplicated Cessna.
I couldn’t find specs skimming through the article, but it doesn’t look like it would fit in any normal parking space. Driving around might be as unwieldy as a motorhome or box truck, without the height advantage when you inevitably drive over a curb while turning. Doing that might also make it un-airworthy.
The tail boom is massive compared to a sports car but I think the folded-up package looks not bigger than a giant American SUV.
Speaking as one who routinely has trouble parking a motor home and driving over curbs with it — this big awkward-looking vehicle doesn’t look like a great city-car but it does not compete with motor homes for the awkwardness prize.
What's crazy is you can build a kit plane for less than what this costs, and flying a kit plane does NOT need a pilot license in the US.
Do you see what happens, Larry?
Yeah, I too once thought flying cars were the best idea since sliced bread. I've since grown up and realized that they're just airplanes with extra steps, cause it's not like you're ever going to be able to land it on a highway or whatever. It will always be cheaper to just buy an airplane and a car and use one to get to the other.
I guess the problem is that if you take your car to the plane, then your plane somewhere else, suddenly you don't have your car. And then if you drive somewhere else you don't have your plane any more.
I think it's pretty obvious that rental cars and commercial flights make a lot more sense for most scenarios. But I guess it's possible to imagine scenarios where this vehicle makes sense, either for extensive round trips or for places where car rentals don't exist but the roads are nevertheless pretty good.
Yeah I was gonna say, there's a whole-ass rental car industry exactly for that kind of purpose. But this isn't the sort of thing you buy because it 'makes sense', you buy it because it's cool and you have fuck-you money so that's enough of a reason.
It's also that usual cars don't fall down on someone's head. And can just stay on one place for traffic jams.
Not possible until Star Wars style repulsors are created, and even then TBH not that cool.
Or you could buy a Skyhawk, three Toyota Camrys and fuel for a year.
Give me a intercity train or intercity tram any day.
I don't trust must drivers on roads, much less the air. No good will come of this.
I am driving through a slight detour on my commute, it's still 3 lanes but with a slight bend, motherfuckers can't even keep their car in their fucking lane, almost hit 3 people this morning, fuckers can't drive
A truly universal experience
Okay I will admit it was impressive to see how they solved where to stow the wings and essentially shrink the airplane footprint to a long car footprint, but who is this for? Who out there has $1mil to blow and is like, "I have to drive directly from the tarmac to my hotel"?
This thing needs 300m of runway in its airplane form to get airborne, so forget city or even suburban takeoffs. And you're not going to just drive this thing around. At the end of the day, this is still a (very fancy) plane that drives.
Sweet. We need more ways for the 1% to kill themselves.
If wings don’t fold, fold your brain.
That's not the "flying car" anyone envisioned or wanted. That's just an airplane but a lot shittier.
a plane. A flying car is called a plane.
Looks a bit like in "The Man With The Golden Gun"
What problem does this solve? And is that problem worth all the negatives this brings?
No
I can see this work as a cab service. Pick me up at home and drop me off at my destination hotel/office. Within a single country this will shorten travel time enormously and for those paid enough by the hour that might come out to be cheaper than wasting time on travel.
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