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World's first flying car prepares for take-off
Mark Harris
Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it's both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.
If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months' time.
Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage.
Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: "This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one Answers.com."
Related LinksThe Transition, developed by former NASA engineers, is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air.
Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.
Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of $200,000 (£132,000).
"For an airplane that's very reasonable, but for a car that's very much at the high end," he conceded.
There are still one or two drawbacks. Getting Answers.com may be a little tricky and finding somewhere to take off may not be straightforward: the only place in the US in which it is legal to take off from a road is Alaska.
Dietrich is optimistic. He said: "In the long term we have the potential to make Answers.com practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings."
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Are flying cars going to exist?
It is most likely that flying cars will exist. The technology is already there to enable it. There has just not been any cost-effective way to implement it yet.
Will flying cars exist in 2014?
Flying cars already exist. The first true flying car was built in 1937 by Waldo Waterman. The concept of the flying car has never come to reality in any numbers due to many factors. Cost, landing strips, dangers of people flying cars when they have a hard time even driving a car.
What are some cool things that are going to exist in the future?
flying cars.
Will flying cars exist in the future?
Around the late 1970s to the early 1990s people thought that flying cars would exist in the 2000s but they didn't and now people start thinking that flying cars will exist in the late 2010s or early 2020s but that may not happen again so maybe not. - Master Talia 03:56/06/14/2005 (PST)
is Creating a flying car possible?
Yes it’s possible, technology is taking over the world, since there are flying planes, different flying cars will exist
Does a traffic system for flying cars already exist?
no, i'm workin on it right now
When will flying cars exist?
Flying cars have existed for quite some time. Check out the James Bond movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun'.
Do flying cars reall?
are flying cars real
Does china have flying cars?
no china does not have flying cars
When are flying cars expected to be built?
Flying cars will be invented the day flying pigs are :)
Will there be a flying car in the future?
There are flying cars now. Google "Flying Cars".
Why aren't there flying cars in the world?
There are flying cars but not available for the general public.
