Well, it's not quite as cute as an Taylor Aerocar, but it does seem to work as advertised. Terrafugia's Transition, a crossbreed of a car and an airplane, successfully completed its first test flight this week, taking to the air for 37 seconds. As MSNBC reports:
Transition's aerial debut followed six months of road tests and years of design. The goal is to create an airplane that can be driven to and from a runway and parked in the family garage at night.
Transition runs on regular unleaded gasoline and can travel up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas. It takes less than 30 seconds for the vehicle's wings to fold up or extend to transform from plane to car or vice-versa.
"The point of the test was to prove that this could both fly and drive," Deitrich said.
Information from the test flight will be used to tweak the Transition's design for a second prototype. The company plans to begin selling the vehicles, which cost $194,000, in 2010, said Richard Gersh, Terrafugia's vice president of business development.
Transition runs on regular unleaded gasoline and can travel up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas. It takes less than 30 seconds for the vehicle's wings to fold up or extend to transform from plane to car or vice-versa.
"The point of the test was to prove that this could both fly and drive," Deitrich said.
Information from the test flight will be used to tweak the Transition's design for a second prototype. The company plans to begin selling the vehicles, which cost $194,000, in 2010, said Richard Gersh, Terrafugia's vice president of business development.
Per usual, the folks from AVWeb have pulled together an excellent and informative video that shows the Transition's first flight, and highlights some of its technical features"
LINKS:
Terrafugia Transition (official website)
PREVIOUSLY:
For Sale: One Aerocar; Half Car, Half Airplane
It's an Amphicar! It's an Amphicar!
(IMAGES: Photos from Terrafugia)
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