Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 16, 2010
What’ll they dream up next?
Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft
Misty S. Brown
Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft is a dual-purpose Light Sport Aircraft that can travel by road or air with its automated electromechanical folding wings.
- Photo provided
I grew up watching cartoons like Inspector Gadget, Animaniacs, Looney Tunes and all things Hanna-Barbera. There was a morning cartoon show in Oregon called “The Ramblin’ Rod Show” that I was glued to every morning. Ramblin’ Rod was one amazing man a la Mr. Rogers who always wore a sweater full of buttons he received from fans. His show featured a smiling contest with tons of children on a bleacher waving and smiling in segments between each cartoon.
It was my dream that I would get to be on the show for one of my birthdays as a child, since he always made a point to recognize the birthday kids. Although that never happened, I did get to meet him once at the state fair where we exchanged buttons. To this day, I still have the button with his photo on it plus a small collection of buttons I have acquired over the years, thanks to Ramblin’ Rod’s inspiration.
I still like to reminisce about those old cartoons and try to remember the theme songs for them. I had a few friends in grade school who could recite every song to every cartoon imaginable. Recently I found myself trying to remember all of The Jetsons’ family members after I came across something I thought I would never see in my lifetime – the Transition Roadable Aircraft.
What it is/How it works
Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft reminds me of a cross between Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Jetsons’ flying cars. It is a dual-purpose Light Sport Aircraft that can travel by road or air.
The Transition Roadable Aircraft is a product of the Terrafugia company, which aims to provide solutions to challenges facing personal aviation. A clever company name, Terrafugia derives from Latin for “Escape the Earth.”
The Transition Roadable Aircraft operates as a car with front-wheel drive and an automotive-style entry. It is a two-seat vehicle with a cargo area that can hold golf clubs, skis and fishing poles. On the highway, it gets 30 miles per gallon and can travel 65 mph. While in car mode, the automated electromechanical folding wings of the aircraft are folded in half on the sides of the vehicle. With the wings folded, the car is 6 feet 9 inches tall, 80 inches wide and 18 feet 9 inches long.
As an aircraft, the Transition Roadable aircraft has a wingspan of 27 feet 6 inches, and is 6 feet 3 inches tall and 19 feet 2 inches long. It can cruise in the air at 115 mph, rotate at 80 mph, stall at 51 mph and has a range of 460 miles. The takeoff over a 50-foot obstacle is 1,700 feet. It burns fuel at 5 gph, has a 20-gallon fuel tank and has a useful load of 430 pounds.
Pros and cons
The Transition Roadable Aircraft is the next big thing in transportation, I believe. It sure beats driving in rush-hour traffic to work every day. Since it can fly and drive like a car, there is no need for a hangar or trailer. On the Terrafugia website, there were pictures of it stored in a standard-sized garage at a home.
To be able to operate the aircraft, a person should undergo training and certification for a sport pilot’s license, which takes about 20 hours of flight time in a Transition-specific course.
The aircraft meets the special needs of pilots who might face bad weather not suitable for flying since it can be driven instead. It also eliminates the need for a rental car or taxi at the end of each flight.
One bad thing about it is that the person operating it would need to use a runway of some sort for it to become air bound, rather than lifting straight up out of a traffic jam and flying away.
When in car mode, the vehicle has automotive crash safety features and a full vehicle parachute is available if problems arise in the air.
With the pretty penny a person will need to spend on one of these, it is not likely that the airways will be jammed with thousands of these as in “The Jetsons” cartoon, but the issue of safety and proper training is one that will need to be monitored and addressed accordingly.
While these vehicles are still in production, testing and certification, the company is aiming to start delivering to customers in 2011.
And for those people who are obsessed with The Transformers, here is a chance at being part of a real-life transformer. I am pretty sure if I ever flew in one of these, I would be bound to yell, “Go-go gadget WINGS!”
Where to buy
A fully refundable deposit of $10,000 is required to reserve one of the vehicles. Terrafugia anticipates the purchase price to be about $194,000. To read more about the Transition Roadable Aircraft, visit www.terrafugia.com and look for them on Facebook.
Submissions
Have a cartoon or funny childhood memory to share with me? What about a gadget you think I would like to write about? E-mail me at misty@dailydata.com.
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