# Toyota's Flying Car...Maybe My Dream Comes True **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 13, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938 "2002-06-13T22:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/1 "2002-06-13T22:03:25Z")
According to WABC News radio in NY and one small mention on the LA Times website, **Toyota** has developed and successfully tested a Flying Car!. Have the Gods smiled down upon me? Could my childhood dream be coming true? Toyota + Flying + Car could equal commuter elation. _Please, oh please don’t let this be an internet hoax._ What makes this _story_ so fascinating is [ol][li]This isn’t some prototype some dreamer of big dreams built out in his garage in the middle of the desert like; [this little gem](http://www.racerchicks.com/features/future_cars3.html) or [this red baron](http://www.hobbyspace.com/Links/sciTech.html), nor, [_]Does it sound as bulky and impractical as the [Aerocar developed in the 1950’s](http://1000aircraftphotos.com/PRPhotos/Aerocar.htm).[/ol][/li] If [this story](http://www.latimes.com/classified/autos/news/la-000041201jun12.story?coll=la-classifieds-autos-news) is legitimate, I’ve got to [ul][li]Start taking flying lessons immediately [_]Contact Toyota about getting on the waiting list. Or better yet; [_]Just liquidate $50,000 (which is cheaper then a lot of conventional automobiles) so I can be the first guy on my block to own one.[/ul][/li] I don’t care about malfunctions, mid air collisions, running out of gas and the like…I want a Flying car and I want one NOW! (Calm down Veruca!). The moment I get one, safety takes a back seat to finally being able to:[ul][_]Smoke a cigarette while soaring through the air without having to stuff tissues in the bathroom smoke detectors[_]Get me one of them rolling bars that fits between the front bucket seats[_]Rename my kids Elroy and Julie (the fact I have 2 daughters means jack to me). In fact, I’m gonna get me a [_]Talking dog who starts every word with an R[_]Come eye to eye with and spit out my driver’s side window at all those birds who for years have been crapping all over my car[_]Hire a chauffeur and say, “Once over the park, James”[_]Tell the valet, “I gotta park it, Not only do I not want you scratching it, I don’t want you running into the high tension wires. But most importantly, Realizing the dream of turning an hour long commuting ordeal into a relaxing flight over the gridlock[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/2 "2002-06-13T22:37:28Z")
What makes this a flying car? It just sounds like an airplane that’s “as simple to fly as driving a car.” Sorry to be a wet blanket. ☹ On the plus side, you don’t have to wait for Toyota if you can liquidate $150,000. You could buy a plane now if you really want to fly. ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/3 "2002-06-13T22:42:39Z")
This doesn’t sound to me like a flying car. It sounds like an airplane built by a car company. It is intended to be cheap and easy to fly, but nothing is said about folding wings or VTOL capability, so you would still only be able to use it from airfield to airfield. That doesn’t fit my definition of a flying car. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/4 "2002-06-13T23:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnBckWLD \* > **Rename my kids Elroy and Julie** Ummm…wasn’t that **Judy**?? George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Astro Jetson. [Meet the Jetsons!](http://www.cybercomm.nl/~ivo/family.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/5 "2002-06-14T02:06:06Z")
I was going to say that Toyota have been quietly developing a General Aviation aircraft for about 10 years, but I see the article covered all of that. I remember when they were trying to come up with a GA engine (I believe that was about the same time Porsche came out with the PFM – _Porsche Flugmotor_) and that they stopped development. I read in either _Flying_ or AOPA_Pilot_ a few months ago that Toyota were almost ready to fly. Anyone who has been following GA recently has seen a plethora of new designs, possibly the most successful of which are the likes of the Cirrus and Katana. The trouble with the new designs is that they’re bloody expensive. They cost about the same as a comparable Cessna or Piper. Toyota’s $50,000 seems very, very optimistic. For comparison, a late-'70s Cessna 172 Skyhawk goes for close to 50 kilobucks. If they pull it off, Toyota may end up driving the cost of new aircraft down to a range that more people (like me) can afford and/or cause the price of used aircraft to come down. I wish them luck! ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/6 "2002-06-14T02:44:34Z")
I was highly amused by the OP until I read > [@](#): > > Smoke a cigarette while soaring through the air without having to stuff tissues in the bathroom smoke detectors Now I’m a little pissed. Hopefully you were kidding about it. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/7 "2002-06-14T05:01:57Z")
look up the Ercoupe - as easy to fly as driving a car - in 1938. Didn’t work then, either. Yes, the Toyoto plane has been rumored for over a decade - I’m not holding my breath - the Sport Pilot NPRM (see [www.eaa.org](http://www.eaa.org) ) is more likely to get planes into the the realm of the affordable (but then, that was what the Recreational Pilot ratiing was supposed to do - that also went nowhere) Parades Happliy rained upon - HH 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/8 "2002-06-14T10:26:10Z")
**JohnBckWLD** , if you can get your paws on $50,000 you can get your pilot’s license and a small, 4-seat plane _now_. You don’t have to wait for Toyota. Yeah, I doubt they’re going to be able to put out a production plane for 50k, either. Mind you, I’d love to see it and if I’m not first in line I’d be near the front. Meanwhile, there are lots of Cessnas and Pipers still around. And in a few years there’ll be things like used Cirrus. Poor **Johnny LA** has a rotorcraft habit, though - now THAT’S expensive! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/9 "2002-06-14T11:04:34Z")
So how is Toyota’s “flying car” any better than, say, [this gem](http://www.moller.com/skycar/)? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/10 "2002-06-14T12:02:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Poor **Johnny LA** has a rotorcraft habit, though - now THAT’S expensive! What this country needs is a good $50,000 helicopter [sub]that you don’t have to build yourself[/sub]. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/11 "2002-07-12T05:04:25Z")
My favorite topic, and I missed it first time around! There is no Toyota Flying car. The rumor is the result of some writer’s wet dream, and his lack of understanding of aviation. The Toyota airplane will look a lot more like a Cirrus. Four seats, luxurious inside no doubt, and probably $200,000. Flown like a regular airplane. [http://happyfunpundit.blogspot.com/?/2002\_06\_16\_happyfunpundit\_archive.html#77852705](http://happyfunpundit.blogspot.com/?/2002_06_16_happyfunpundit_archive.html#77852705) As for Moller, his skycar has been ‘ready for flight testing in a couple of months’ since the 1980’s. It’s never even been off the ground. It may fly one day, but it will never, ever, be widely available at a reasonable price ('reasonable in this case being say, less than a quarter million bucks). And the government will never certify it. Flying cars will never be widely available to the general public. They’ll never be the solution to gridlock, for the simple reason that you can’t tolerate anywhere near the density of vehicles in the air as you can on the ground. Aircraft bounce around in turbulence, they change altitudes rapidly with slight control forces, etc. That’s why we fly with 1000’ vertical separation (2000’ in the flight levels), and even more horizontal separation. Do the math, and you’ll find that with those types of separation the skies over a city would be completely swamped if even 1% of car drivers took to the air. Then there’s cost, training, and maintenance. Most cars are horribly maintained. I see a broken car by the side of the road (or in it, blocking traffic) almost daily. If those were airplanes, each one of those would be a serious crash with fatalities and much property damage. It’ll never happen. If you want to fly, go do it. It’s not that expensive. Spend $5,000 on a license, and rent. Or buy a little used 2-seat airplane for $15,000 and have a ball. You can do that today, and you don’t need to wait for Buck Rogers. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/12 "2002-07-12T20:28:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnBckWLD \* > **I don’t care about malfunctions, mid air collisions, running out of gas and the like…I want a Flying car and I want one NOW! (Calm down Veruca!). The moment I get one, safety takes a back seat to finally being able to: [snip]** I’m sure the FAA Inspector that administers the Check Ride for your Private Pilot Certificate would **love** to hear that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toyotas-flying-car-maybe-my-dream-comes-true/113938/13 "2002-07-12T21:55:21Z")
\ Finally, somebody decided to throw their hat over the wall for the good of mankind. “You’d do it with a bunch of guys for a flying car?!” \\