moeller flying car on fox news

[zeppo123]

this hour 9:00 est.

[ftropea]

Not near a TV for this one... Are they going to drive/fly it this morning?!

This *is* the future (2002) so it's about time we see some George Jetson like flying cars :)

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea

[zeppo123]

quote:Originally posted by ftropea

Not near a TV for this one... Are they going to drive/fly it this morning?!

This *is* the future (2002) so it's about time we see some George Jetson like flying cars :)

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea


It should be on anytime now. They showed a preview with it hovering in mid air.

[Casey]

They showed this on Fox news yesterday on the 6:00 local news. All it showed basically was it hovering while they talked about it. More like an infomercial than a news report.

The thing is interesting but has been in development longer than most people registered here have been alive. It is about the price of about 5 0r 6 Rolls Royce.

http://www.smmirror.com/Volume1/issue14/sky_car.html

quote:SEPTEMBER 22-28, 1999 The M400 Skycar - a result of 30 years and more than $100 million in research - is not like any vehicle you've ever seen. It comes complete with on-board computers, several backup jet engines and an emergency parachute for those annoying breakdowns at 20,000 feet. It features a Jetsonslike glass bubble on top and a large single wing that swooshes off the back like a gigantic spoiler.
The current price tag is prohibitive - around $1 million for the prototype. But given time and mass production, Moller said, the Skycar eventually could retail for less than $60,000.

[zeppo123]

quote:Originally posted by Casey

They showed this on Fox news yesterday on the 6:00 local news. All it showed basically was it hovering while they talked about it. More like an infomercial than a news report.

The thing is interesting but has been in development longer than most people registered here have been alive. It is about the price of a Rolls Royce.

http://www.smmirror.com/Volume1/issue14/sky_car.html

quote:The M400 Skycar - a result of 30 years and more than $100 million in research - is not like any vehicle you've ever seen. It comes complete with on-board computers, several backup jet engines and an emergency parachute for those annoying breakdowns at 20,000 feet. It features a Jetsonslike glass bubble on top and a large single wing that swooshes off the back like a gigantic spoiler.
The current price tag is prohibitive - around $1 million for the prototype. But given time and mass production, Moller said, the Skycar eventually could retail for less than $60,000.



They didn't show much. They said you could go from San Francisco to Sacramento in 15 minutes. They flew it via remote. I read an article about 10 years on the sky car. They said it used 6 snow mobile engines and the biggest draw back is that people wouldn't trust computers to fly them. I remember the inventors vision was to drive the car to a local launch site and fly in designated lanes using GPS. I think he said you could fly them 5 feet apart at around 260 mph.

[ftropea]

Did you get the sense that they're any closer to getting this thing out there to the public? I understand the safety concerns... but if they can nail this GPS thing down and do enough demos, I think the public would accept it.

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea

[zeppo123]

quote:Originally posted by ftropea

Did you get the sense that they're any closer to getting this thing out there to the public? I understand the safety concerns... but if they can nail this GPS thing down and do enough demos, I think the public would accept it.

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea


It's hard to say Frank. The article I read years ago gave me the impression the machine was almost ready but the public wasn't. Ten years latter it looks like Moeller is doing the same test. With GPS and remote control and size, I imagine the military is involved.

[Casey]

The military has had VTOL aircraft in use as long as I can remember, and that's a long time.

The Osprey is one that comes to mind.

Here is a google search for VTOL aircraft. Moeller isn't alone on this.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=vtol+aircraft

http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/ba609/