The Terrafugia flying car

It was early in the morning on March 5th when retired Air Force Colonel Phil Meteer took off from Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York. This was no ordinary take-off as Meteer was flying the Terrafugia Transition on its inaugural voyage. This event marked the first time the unique hybrid car-aircraft had ever left the ground. Despite this however, Meteer described the event only as being “remarkable for being unremarkable.”

The Transition aircraft is aimed at private pilots says Terrafugia vehicle engineer Marc Stiller. “The Transition is designed to replace their planes, not their cars“, Stiller said, adding that the concept originated from a study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The MIT study, according to Stiller, suggested that private pilots were prevented from flying by two primary factors-time and cost.

The Transition is designed to eliminate what Stiller described as “door to door time” for a private pilot travelling from place to place. “Door to door time”, he explains, is the time it takes to get to the airport, switch to an aircraft and fly to a destination and then secure ground transportation once at the destination point. Additionally Stiller says, ground transportation is often difficult to secure at many of the isolated airfields across the nation which only adds to the inconvenience factor that turns many private pilots away from flying.

Another factor that compounds the issue of “door to door time” is the weather. Most private pilots do not have an Instrument Flight Rating (IFR) and have limited options when faced with inclement weather. According to Stiller, there are three options for a non-IFR rated pilot when faced with such a situation. The first option is to turn around and go home. The second option is to divert to a different airfield. The third option is to push through the weather and continue towards the destination- usually a very unwise decision. “The Transition”, Stiller said, “will offer a fourth option- divert to the nearest airfield and drive safely under the weather.”

While other attempts to design flying cars have failed, Stiller insists that the Transition is fundamentally different in that it is designed as an airplane that drives rather than a car that flies. “It’s not a jet fighter going Mach 2 and it’s not a sports car doing 200 miles per hour. It’s a practical attempt to do both things well.” Stiller said.

Because the Transition is designed to be both a car and an aircraft, it was designed with two completely separate sets of controls. For driving on the ground, there is a conventional steering wheel, brake pedal and accelerator. In the aircraft mode, a control column, throttle and rudder pedals are provided- completely separate from the pedals used in the car mode. The 100 horsepower Rotax 912S engine is front mounted and provides power to the front wheels in driving mode with the pusher propeller disconnected. In the flying mode, the engine drives a fixed pitch propeller mounted in the rear.

Transitioning from the car mode to aircraft mode is simple and takes about a minute, Stiller said. The wings, which are folded in the car mode, are unfolded and locked by an electrical motor at the touch of a button (once it is unlocked via a PIN number). Once the switch is made, the Transition flies very much like any other general aviation aircraft in its class.

Phil Meteer, the test pilot for the Transition, said that the aircraft’s handling is “rock solid”. Meteer described the aircraft’s flight characteristics as being smooth and stable and that landing the aircraft was a particular joy. Unlike most general aviation aircraft, which touch down at or near the point of stall, the Transition lands at considerably faster airspeeds than it’s stall speed. According to Meteer, the point of rotation is at 70 knots airspeed and is 25 knots faster than the plane’s stall speed of 45 knots.

Meteer also notes that while the Transition is a canard design, it does not exhibit the aggressive rotation that one would expect with such a configuration. Stiller said that the canard control surface was chosen because that type of configuration would provide extra lift for the aircraft while acting as the bumper in the driving mode.

On the ground, the Transition has typical automotive safety features such as crumple zones and has a fuel economy of around 30 miles per gallon. In the air, the aircraft cruises at 100 knots and has a range of 400 nautical miles with a fuel burn of around five gallons per hour. The total amount of fuel carried is 20 gallons of premium automotive fuel that can found at any gas station. The Transition carries a useful load of 430 lbs and has an empty weight of 890 lbs.

While the development of the Transition is continuing, some decisions remain. Stiller said that decisions have yet to be made on issues such as equipping the aircraft with an air conditioner or stereo as these items add weight- which is at a premium on an aircraft. Stiller points out that most general aviation aircraft do not include such features. Because the Transition is aimed at pilots, Stiller believes the lack of such comforts may not be an issue. Other decisions that need to be made involve visibility- there are no mirrors installed currently on the vehicle for the driving mode. Stiller said that the company is debating whether to install cameras or a series of mirrors in order to provide a good level of visibility on the road.

Stiller expects the Transition to be available to the public in 2011 with a price tag around $194 000, which is inline with prices for other general aviation aircraft. Potential buyers can make a deposit of $10 000 to secure their position on the production line. For those who are not pilots but wish to fly the Transition, it takes as little as 20 hours to get a Sports Pilot License…

Ref.  examiner.com