# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/21 "2014-11-14T13:43:55Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > 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. IMHO, there are only 2 options- covering the car with airbags, or using a ballistic parachute. With a ballistic parachute, there is a death zone between the ground, and sufficient altitude for deployment. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/22 "2014-11-14T14:20:20Z")
There are five extremely tough problems standing in the way of practical flying cars, and only one has been partially solved since people like Paul Moller started tinkering with them starting in the 1940s. As far as I can tell, “flying cars” are what the nuts turn to when they’re \*almost \*completely convinced perpetual motion is impossible. ETA: I don’t regard a large, fragile aircraft that \*can \*be driven on the road as a ‘practical’ flying car. That encompasses about 95% of the efforts I’m aware of. The other 5% is Moller, who can talk the legs off a donkey and draw up a helluva run of ‘flying cars’ that are fantastic… except that not a one has yet, well, you know, _flown_. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/23 "2014-11-14T15:30:08Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > So My next question would be… > > “How many way’s can lift be produced?” I’m hoping this will involve a large balloon of some type. I wonder what the consequences to the atmosphere would be of putting in enough helium to lift a billion light vehicles. ---
**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, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/24 "2014-11-14T15:40:50Z")
Imagine how many cars run out of gas every single day. Imagine flying cars. 'Nuff said. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/25 "2014-11-14T15:42:51Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > 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 **Moderator Note** **Donsairo** , that is not the function of this forum. General Questions is for questions that have clear factual answers. If you wish to discuss ideas about flying cars in general, the place for that would be our IMHO forum. Don’t make this some kind of guessing game about what your ideas might be. Please limit yourself to factual questions here. If you wish a broader discussion, I will close this thread and you may open a new one in IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**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, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/26 "2014-11-14T16:02:33Z")
My apologizes for being annoying, I will try to be clearer. My breakthrough in flying car technology, involves a mechanical method or process to create lift. I use the “Magnus Effect” to create lift. I have submitted a patent application. The “Magnus Effect” produces a great amount of lift compared to the energy required. Much more so than the airfoil. It also allows for VTOL, and compact vehicle design. And with today’s technology in Avionic software, hardware, and sensing capabilities, safe control is now possible. Redundant recovery systems in case of power, mechanical, and computer failures are not so difficult to design. So, if all the criteria were met to produce a “Practical Flying Car for the Masses,” including affordability, my next question would be… “In what ways would a ‘Practical Flying Car for the Masses,’ change the World?” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/27 "2014-11-14T16:05:07Z")
The first announcement of a flying car appeared in 1915 in a magazine called _The Horseless Age_. It read “William N. Parrish and his son, Russel Parrish, of Richmond, Ind., have announced the perfection of plans for an aero-automobile, a machine that can be used on the land and in the air.” And now, someone announces that the aero-automobile will be perfected in 2015. That’s almost wonderful in its timing. The Parrishes, of course, were never heard of again. There have been dozens of flying cars in between. The most complete site I know is [roadabletimes.com](http://roadabletimes.com). The first “real” flying car, in the sense that it was the first “roadable plane” certified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, was the Airphibian, designed by the evocatively named Robert Edison Fulton, in 1947. That the CAA must certify any flying craft should be a dead giveaway that we’re not talking about “cars” and that the term flying car is a misnomer. Yes, you can get a single vehicle that flies through the air and drives on the ground. Dozens of people have. You cannot get one that is practical for the masses. With current technology in current society, that requires magic. ---
**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, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/28 "2014-11-14T16:08:00Z")
Well, good luck in your endeavors. I hope it works out for you. But I’ll point out that people have been using applications of the Magnus effect in flying vehicles for over a hundred years. It seems somewhat unlikely that you’ve developed a significant application that everyone else has missed. Have you built a working model or is your work mostly theory at this point? ---
**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, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/29 "2014-11-14T16:12:36Z")
[The Magnus Effect?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect) According to the article, the last that approach was tried was back in the early 1930’s-[Take a look.](http://books.google.com/books?id=xSgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&dq=Popular+Science+1931+plane&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true) ---
**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, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/30 "2014-11-14T16:32:30Z")
Thank you everyone, I have researched the history and the methods and I am familiar. Yes, I did get lucky and discovered a new method of application which proves itself with the mathematics of aerodynamic physics. I have tested the theory with an interactive aerodynamic software program simulating the testing in a wind tunnel. The results were fantastic. To even build a model would cost a lot of money. I cannot afford it, and I any not willing to sell my ideas to corporate or venture capitalist. Can you image the how much global control it would give them? That could be another question for another time. Sincerely, Don ---
**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, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/31 "2014-11-14T16:39:12Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > Yes, I did get lucky and discovered a new method of application which proves itself with the mathematics of aerodynamic physics. No you haven’t. Put up or shut up. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/32 "2014-11-14T16:42:14Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > Thank you everyone, I have researched the history and the methods and I am familiar. > > Yes, I did get lucky and discovered a new method of application which proves itself with the mathematics of aerodynamic physics. > > I have tested the theory with an interactive aerodynamic software program simulating the testing in a wind tunnel. > > **The results were fantastic.To even build a model would cost a lot of money. > I cannot afford it, and I any not willing to sell my ideas to corporate or venture capitalist.** > Can you image the how much global control it would give them? > That could be another question for another time. > > Sincerely, > Don And this is where you put the touch on us for the cash, right? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590/33 "2014-11-14T16:48:14Z")
> [@Donsairo](#): > > Thank you everyone, I have researched the history and the methods and I am familiar. > > Yes, I did get lucky and discovered a new method of application which proves itself with the mathematics of aerodynamic physics. > > I have tested the theory with an interactive aerodynamic software program simulating the testing in a wind tunnel. > > The results were fantastic. > > To even build a model would cost a lot of money. > I cannot afford it, and I any not willing to sell my ideas to corporate or venture capitalist. > Can you image the how much global control it would give them? > That could be another question for another time. > > Sincerely, > Don **Moderating** As we have previously noted, this is not appropriate to this forum. If you are here to simply promote some agenda of your own, that’s against the registration agreement. This is closed. If you post further on this subject, you will be subject to banning. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-cars/704590.md?page=1)