# Flying Cars **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590 "2014-11-14T03:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donsairo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@Donsairo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donsairo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/1 "2014-11-14T03:47:14Z")
What would be required for a flying car to be a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses?”😕 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/2 "2014-11-14T03:54:24Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > What would be required for a flying car to be a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses?”😕 A minimum wage of about $100 per hour. Flying cars require more sophisticated control and safety systems. If the engine conks out on your ground based car, you just stop. On a flying car, you plummet to your death. They have only recently figured out control strategies for quad copters that allow them to fly on three rotors, so something like that could be used for a flying car. But however you do it, a flying car is going to be much more expensive to build than a regular ground based car. Flying cars also require energy to stay aloft. So not only is there a huge up-front cost when buying the vehicle, there’s also a significantly larger fuel cost to operate it. Since it’s more complicated, there’s greater maintenance costs also. With modern computer controls you could almost make the thing fly itself, so I don’t see the main hurdles being engineering related at this point. The main hurdles now are mostly financial. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/3 "2014-11-14T04:11:11Z")
About a 99% reduction in the number of people driving around. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/4 "2014-11-14T04:14:07Z")
I seriously doubt the “masses” could pass the requirements for all the licenses that would be required. Drivers license, pilots license, including applicable ratings, medical certifications, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/5 "2014-11-14T04:37:40Z")
Well first off people would have to be a whole lot more anal about routine maintenance. Ever see a car that looked like it was on it’s last legs? Muffler falling off? Engine running rough? Stalling? Barely running at a stoplight? Strange squeaks, bangs and rattles as it drove? Now picture that shitbox flying over your head. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/6 "2014-11-14T04:39:40Z")
anti-grav tech. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/7 "2014-11-14T04:41:29Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I seriously doubt the “masses” could pass the requirements for all the licenses that would be required. Drivers license, pilots license, including applicable ratings, medical certifications, etc. You can fly an [I-TEC Maverick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-TEC_Maverick) flying car on a sport pilot license. It costs $92K and requires a driver’s license (in place of a medical) and 20 hrs of training. Since it uses a para-sail there’s not much “training” involved. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/8 "2014-11-14T04:46:26Z")
I realize that you qualified your question quite well when you stipulate “Practical Flying Car for the Masses?”. The answer to that is nothing because it won’t happen. It isn’t because such a thing is technically impossible. It is because the whole concept isn’t practical at all. Cars make terrible planes and vice-versa but that hasn’t ever stopped people from trying to invent a mutant hybrid that serves both roles to the satisfaction of basically no one. [Flying cars have existed since the 1940’s yet no one really wanted them so they withered away.](http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/world-flying-car-created-1949-sale-1-million-article-1.1375626) There is yet another attempted revival now with the [Terrafugia](http://www.terrafugia.com/) based near me. I admire their engineering smarts and innovation but that thing has a potential market of less than 1000 people worldwide. There is simply no market for it even if it can be built. The fact of the matter is that you will always have something like cars, planes and helicopters but they serve very different roles and are not on track to be hybridized in any real way. The general public will not own any flying vehicles on par with cars until they are almost fully autonomous and self-guiding (and by that I mean many decades away to never). The safety aspect of letting people learn to navigate in 3D as opposed to 2D space over populated areas is simply too much to overcome. Until then, there are some really cool light sport planes that you can buy and fly that serve most of the general purpose. They aren’t cheap in the usual sense of the word (at least 100k+ at minimum) but they can be had by upper-middle class people that make such a thing a priority and have the property for landing strips. ---
**Author:** ![Donsairo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@Donsairo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donsairo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/9 "2014-11-14T05:23:51Z")
The Question was… “What is required to become a ‘Practical Flying Car for the Masses?’” Not “What is the problem with today’s flying car technology?” The answer… Seven things; 1. It must be 100% absolutely safe, no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. 2. It must fly and drive itself. 3. It must be able to Take Off and Land Vertically without blowing air everywhere. (VTOL) 4. it must be weatherproof. 5. It must be affordable in order to be “Practical for the Masses.” 6. It must be unobtrusive. 7. It must be regulated by governments for the creation of flight lanes, and electronic borders and boundaries. Next Question, What is the first problem to solve when trying to create a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses?” Hint…It not a car, it’s a hybrid Land/Air vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/10 "2014-11-14T06:02:58Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > The Question was… > > “What is required to become a ‘Practical Flying Car for the Masses?’” > > Not “What is the problem with today’s flying car technology?” > > The answer… > > Seven things; > > 1. It must be 100% absolutely safe, no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. > 2. It must fly and drive itself. > 3. It must be able to Take Off and Land Vertically without blowing air everywhere. (VTOL) > 4. it must be weatherproof. > 5. It must be affordable in order to be “Practical for the Masses.” > 6. It must be unobtrusive. > 7. It must be regulated by governments for the creation of flight lanes, and electronic borders and boundaries. > > Next Question, > > What is the first problem to solve when trying to create a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses?” > > Hint…It not a car, it’s a hybrid Land/Air vehicle. Not into hints. Where are you ultimately going with this? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/11 "2014-11-14T06:12:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not into hints. Where are you ultimately going with this? “You’d be interested in getting rich, wouldn’t you? Of course you would! Well what if I told you that with just a small investment…” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/12 "2014-11-14T06:17:12Z")
Flying cars have been around for decades. They are called “airplanes”. What, too expensive? Yeah, they are. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/13 "2014-11-14T06:24:38Z")
**Moderator Note** Welcome to the SDMB, **Donsairo**. Your asking of a question and then posting what you believe to be the “correct” answer makes me think that you are promoting a specific agenda rather than opening a topic for discussion. If that is the case, please note the following from the SDMB registration agreement: > [@](#): > > The board is not intended to furnish you with a forum for promoting your personal agenda. We reserve the right to ask you to limit postings on a particular topic, or to refrain from posting on such topics altogether. Please keep this in mind with further posts on this topic. ---
**Author:** ![Donsairo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@Donsairo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donsairo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/14 "2014-11-14T07:08:00Z")
Sorry, I am new to forums. I will try again, I mean sincerely to cause thought and discussion into questions concerning flying car technology. Flying car is not a good term, a hybrid land/air vehicle is more precise. I have studied the subject and was researching what peoples opinions are as to what would be a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses.” Pretty much what I have always heard, nothing new. The answers I posted I gleamed over time from research articles on the subject. I did add two of my own. I set out to invent a “Practical Flying car for the Masses,” and have discovered some solutions. I am curious to see if I can stimulate ideas from others into a new line of thought in the design of a hybrid land/air vehicle. To think outside the box or “flying car with wings idea” and if those new ideas could follow my line of reasoning. I began my discoveries by asking “What is the problem?” The answer I came up with was, “The way lift is created for current flying car technology.” So then I asked myself, “How is lift produced?” That is when I had my first “Eureka” moment. So My next question would be… “How many way’s can lift be produced?” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/15 "2014-11-14T07:23:07Z")
Why not just lay out your ideas and we can discuss them. Making us tease them out of you is going to become tedious very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Donsairo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@Donsairo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donsairo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/16 "2014-11-14T07:53:26Z")
Maybe your right, but then I would only be professing. I have come up with a new line of thought for the technology, and I will share the discoveries I have made very soon. (I am shooting for "New Year’s Day, 2015) But I would like to help people make some of the discoveries on their own, it would be fun. Sincerely, Don ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/17 "2014-11-14T08:06:42Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > But I would like to help people make some of the discoveries on their own, it would be fun. We don’t seem to be getting the same amount of fun out of this as you are. Assuming you’re going to be trying to sell this idea at some point, you’ll want to work on your presentation. You want to intrigue your audience not annoy them. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/18 "2014-11-14T08:20:39Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > Flying car is not a good term, a hybrid land/air vehicle is more precise. This is true but not enlightening. This “hybrid land/air vehicle” idea is precisely what every “flying car” concept has been since the concept was first created decades ago. Being punctilious about using the new terminology doesn’t change our conception of the problem one whit. > [@](#): > > I began my discoveries by asking “What is the problem?” > The answer I came up with was, “The way lift is created for current flying car technology.” That’s one problem, but not the most interesting. A more interesting problem is, “When the machinery fails because most people are crap at maintaining what they own, how do I survive the resulting crash?” Nobody’s come up with a good answer to that one yet. > [@](#): > > So My next question would be… > > “How many way’s can lift be produced?” Either moving wind beneath something fast enough to generate enough lift for a heavier-than-air vehicle, or making your vehicle overall lighter-than-air. Heavier-than-air vehicles neatly separate into rotorcraft (helicopters), fixed-wing (airplanes), and weird experimental designs (autogyros, possibly from Prussia to Siam). Rotorcraft are impossible to fly; some people don’t know that, and so we have helicopter pilots in the world. Fixed-wing craft are possible to fly but very difficult, even if they’re inherently stable, and the other designs are no better. Lighter-than-air craft are great until someone ruptures a bag. They’re also at the mercy of the winds and I doubt any blimp or dirigible design is especially fast compared to a car on the highway. Also, we have two gases to make them lighter-than-air with, helium and hydrogen: The first is in short supply and the second is only safe when compared with gasoline, which is a chemical designed to explode under fairly ordinary conditions. Am I missing anything? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/19 "2014-11-14T09:43:37Z")
I went googling to see what people have actually built lately. The first thing I found was this: > **[Aeromobil Is A Flying Car With A Top Speed of 124 MPH... On Land | TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/12/aeromobil-is-a-flying-car-with-a-top-speed-of-124-mph-on-land/)** > > At the recent 2014 Pioneers Festival in Vienna, we caught up with the founders of Aeromobil, Stefan Klein and Juraj Vaculik, who unveiled version 3.0 of > [@](#): > > The Aeromobil, designed and built in Slovakia, has a flight range of 543 miles or 875 kilometres, or can drive with a top speed of up to 124 mph or 200 km/h. Pretty fast for something that has this unusual dual-use. > , > Its makers say its largest potential market is not your average Silicon Valley tech executive, but emerging countries in Africa and Asia where roads are poor or non-existent. Interesting, but it looks like it flies a lot like a conventional plane, so not really for the masses, I think. The next thing I found was wikipedia, which has a list of several modern flying cars. > **[Flying car](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_car_%28aircraft%29)** > > A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes used to include hovercars and/or VTOL personal air vehicles. Many prototypes have been built since the early 20th century, using a variety of flight technologies. Most have been designed to take off and land conventionally using a runway. Although VTOL project... The cars they list are here: > **[Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Hawk)** > > The Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk is a proposed flying car designed by Rafi Yoeli in Yavne, Israel, being built by Metro Skyways Ltd., a subsidiary of Yoeli's privately held company, Urban Aeronautics. The firm claims to have flown the car to a height of 90 cm (3 ft), and that greater heights are possible. The X-Hawk and its smaller unmanned version, the Tactical Robotics Cormorant, would be used in search and rescue operations where a helicopter would be useless, or at least very dangerous, such a Ur... > **[Moller M400 Skycar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_Skycar_M400)** > > The Moller Skycar is a flying car with VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) capability which has been under development by Paul Moller for over fifty years. As of 2023, the M400 has not achieved free flight. > Due to the project's failure to deliver and associated financial issues, Moller has been accused of deliberate fraud. The parent company, Moller International, has been dormant since 2015. > The M400 is a four-seat flying car, a type of VTOL personal air vehicle described by Moller as a "vola... > **[Terrafugia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrafugia)** > > Terrafugia (/ˌtɛrəˈfuːdʒiə/) is a Chinese-owned corporation, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States that is developing a roadable aircraft called the Transition and a flying car called the TF-X. The Transition and TF-X are designed to be able to fold their wings, enabling the vehicles to also operate as street-legal road vehicles. > In January 2021, Terrafugia announced that the Transition received a Special Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) airworthiness certificate from the FAA for the Transi... > **[Xplorair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xplorair)** > > The Xplorair is a project of compact VTOL aircraft without rotating airfoil from aerospace engineer Michel Aguilar, funded by the French Armed Forces procurement agency DGA and supported by various European aeronautics firms such as Dassault Systèmes, EADS Innovation Works, MBDA, Altran Technologies, Sogeti, Turbomeca, COMAT Aerospace and the Institut Pprime. Announced in 2007, the project aimed to develop a UAV prototype scheduled for flight in 2017, followed by a single-seater personal air v Th... > **[SkyRider X2R](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyRider_X2R)** > > The SkyRider X2R was a project for flying car design developed by Macro Industries. The SkyRider incorporates tough, lightweight composites for reduced structural weight, it utilizes four-ducted fans with wings to generate lift and maintain flight and uses control systems and onboard computers to generate a travel path to reach a destination given by voice commands. > While still in a prototype phase\[citation needed\], the SkyRider is estimated to cost between $500,000 and $1 million, although pri... All of these still have a ways to go before they reach the level of the common man’s car that the OP envisions, but it is interesting to see where we are currently. Ducted fans and letting computers figure out the hard stuff seem to be a common theme. I also found this article interesting. It discusses a lot of the challenges involved: > **[Finally, a flying car for everybody? It’s the idiot-proof aerial commuter |...](https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/tech/innovation/finally-a-flying-car-mycopter/)** > > There may be plenty of idiots on the road, but is putting them in the skies taking it, quite literally, to the next dimension? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/20 "2014-11-14T12:19:02Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > I have come up with a new line of thought for the technology, and I will share the discoveries I have made very soon. (I am shooting for "New Year’s Day, 2015) WHY do internet cranks always, always do this? If you have something new to say, just effing SAY IT. I have seen this “teasing” approach, where the magical new information is always just around the corner, time after time after time. Inevitably, if the crank ever manages to actually spit it out, it turns out to be something ludicrously idiotic. Donsario: I am willing to bet that whatever your fantastic new discovery is, it is either: -already known -impractical for very good reasons and/or -batshit insane Feel free to prove me wrong. I won’t hold my breath. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590.md?page=2)