Flying car

For other uses, see Flying car (disambiguation).

Convair Model 118, a prototype flying car from 1947, in flight

The Waterman Arrowbile at the Smithsonian

Jess Dixon's flying automobile c. 1940

Fulton Airphibian FA-3-101

Moulton Taylor's Aerocar III

The Mizar by Advanced Vehicle Engineers, August 1973

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 projects are increasing, none has yet been built in more than a handful of numbers.

Their appearance is often predicted by futurologists, and many concept designs have been promoted. Their failure to become a practical reality has led to the catchphrase "Where's my flying car?", as a paradigm for the failure of predicted technologies to appear. Flying cars are also a popular theme in fantasy and science fiction stories.

History

Early 20th century

In 1901 German immigrant to the U.S. Gustave Whitehead purportedly flew a powered aircraft, which was described as able to propel itself along roads to the site of the flying experiment.^{[1][failed verification][2][better source needed][3][unreliable source?]} Consensus among historians is that Whitehead's no. 21 did not achieve sustained self-powered flight.^[4][5][6]

Aircraft designer Glenn Curtiss built his Autoplane in 1917. It had a pusher propeller for flight, with removable flight surfaces including a triplane wing, canard foreplane and twin tails. It was able to hop, but not fly.^[7]

In 1935, Constantinos Vlachos built a prototype of a 'tri-phibian' vehicle with a circular wing, but it caught fire after the engine exploded while he was demonstrating it in Washington, D.C. Vlachos was badly injured and spent several months in hospital.^[8][9] The machine is most notable for a newsreel that captured the incident.^[10]

The Autogiro Company of America AC-35 was a prototype roadable autogyro, flown on 26 March 1936 by test pilot James G. Ray. Forward thrust was initially provided by twin counter-rotating propellers for thrust, later replaced with a single propeller. On 26 October 1936, the aircraft was converted to roadable configuration.^[11] Ray drove it to the main entrance of the Commerce Building, Washington, D.C., where it was accepted by John H. Geisse, chief of the Aeronautics Branch. Although it had been successfully tested, it did not enter production.

The first fixed wing roadable aircraft to fly was built by Waldo Waterman. Waterman had been associated with Glenn Curtiss when pioneering amphibious aircraft at North Island on San Diego Bay in the 1910s. On 21 February 1937, Waterman's Arrowbile first took to the air.^{[12] [13]} The Arrowbile was a development of Waterman's tailless aircraft, the Whatsit.^[14] It had a wingspan of 38 feet (12 m) and a length of 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m). On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at 112 mph (180 km/h) and drive at 56 mph (90 km/h).

In 1942, the British army built the Hafner Rotabuggy, an experimental roadable autogyro that was developed with the intention of air-dropping off-road vehicles. In developed form the Rotabuggy achieved a flight speed of 70 mph (113 km/h). However, the introduction of gliders that could carry vehicles (such as the Waco Hadrian and Airspeed Horsa) led to the project's cancellation.^[15]

Late 20th century

Although several designs (such as the ConVairCar) have flown, none have enjoyed commercial success, and those that have flown are not widely known by the general public. The most successful example, in that several were made and one is still flying, is the 1949 Taylor Aerocar.

In 1946, the Fulton FA-2 Airphibian was an American-made flying car designed by Robert Edison Fulton Jr., it was an aluminum-bodied car, built with independent suspension, aircraft-sized wheels, and a six-cylinder 165 hp engine. The fabric wings were easily attached to the fuselage, converting the car into a plane. Four prototypes were built. Charles Lindbergh flew it in 1950 and, although it was not a commercial success (financial costs of airworthiness certification forced him to relinquish control of the company, which never developed it further), it is now in the Smithsonian.

1949 Aerocar with wings folded, at the EAA AirVenture Museum

The Aerocar, designed and built by Molt Taylor, made a successful flight in December 1949, and in following years versions underwent a series of road and flying tests. Chuck Berry featured the concept in his 1956 song "You Can't Catch Me", and in December 1956 the Civil Aviation Authority approved the design for mass production, but despite wide publicity and an improved version produced in 1989, Taylor did not succeed in getting the flying car into production. In total, six Aerocars were built. It is considered to be one of the first practical flying cars.^[16]

One notable design was Henry Smolinski's Mizar, made by mating the rear end of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto, but it disintegrated during test flights killing Smolinski and the pilot.

Project Prodigal^[17] was a British Army concept in the late 1950s early 1960s for a "Jumping Jeep" to overcome obstacles on the battlefield^[18][19] with entrants were BAC^[20] Boulton Paul, Bristol Siddeley, Folland, Handley Page^[21][22] Saunders Roe,^[23] Short Brothers^[24] Vickers-Armstrongs and Westland.^[25]

Moller began developing VTOL craft in the late 1960s, but no Moller vehicle has ever achieved free flight out of ground effect. The Moller Skycar M400^[26][27] was a project for a personal VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft which is powered by four pairs of in-tandem Wankel rotary engines. The proposed Autovolantor model had an all-electric version powered by Altairnano batteries.^[28] The company has been dormant since 2015.

In the mid-1980s, former Boeing engineer Fred Barker founded Flight Innovations Inc. and began the development of the Sky Commuter, a small duct fans-based VTOL aircraft. It was a compact, 14-foot-long (4.3 m) two-passenger and was made primarily of composite materials.^[29] In 2008, the remaining prototype was sold for £86k on eBay.^[30]

21st century

Parajet Skycar prototype seen at the Sport and Leisure Aviation Show (SPLASH), Birmingham, UK, November 2008

Prototype Terrafugia Transition at the N.Y. Int'l Auto Show in April 2012

Super Sky Cycle

Maverick Flying Dune Buggy

Plane Driven PD-1 Roadable Glastar

In 2009 the U.S., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated the $65 million Transformer program to develop a four-person roadable aircraft by 2015.^[31] The vehicle was to have had VTOL capability and a 280-mile (450 km) range. AAI Corporation and Lockheed Martin were awarded contracts.^[32] The program was cancelled in 2013.

The Parajet Skycar utilises a paramotor for propulsion and a parafoil for lift. The main body consists of a modified dune buggy. It has a top speed of 80 mph (130 km/h) and a maximum range of 180 miles (290 km) in flight. On the ground it has a top speed of 112 mph (180 km/h) and a maximum range of 249 miles (401 km). Parajet flew and drove its prototype from London to Timbuktu in January 2009.

The Maverick Flying Dune Buggy was designed by the Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center of Florida as an off-road vehicle that could unfurl an advanced parachute and then travel by air over impassable terrain when roadways were no longer usable. The 1,100-pound (500 kg) 'Maverick' vehicle is powered by a 128 hp (95 kW) engine that can also drive a five-bladed pusher propeller. It was initially conceived in order to help minister to remote Amazon rainforest communities, but will also be marketed for visual pipeline inspection and other similar activities in desolate areas or difficult terrain.^[33]

The Plane Driven PD-1 Roadable Glastar is a modification to the Glastar Sportsman GS-2 to make a practical roadable aircraft. The approach is novel in that it uses a mostly stock aircraft with a modified landing gear "pod" that carries the engine for road propulsion. The wings fold along the side, and the main landing gear and engine pod slide aft in driving configuration to compensate for the rearward center of gravity with the wings folded, and provide additional stability for road travel.^[34][35]

The Super Sky Cycle was an American homebuilt roadable gyroplane designed and manufactured by The Butterfly Aircraft LLC.^[36] It is a registered motorcycle.^[37] At the 2014 Pioneers Festival at Wien (Austria) AeroMobil presented their version 3.0 of their flying car. The prototype was conceived as a vehicle that can be converted from an automobile to an aircraft. The version 2.5 proof-of-concept took 20 years to develop and first flew in 2013. CEO Juraj Vaculik said that the company planned to move flying cars to market: "the plan is that in 2017 we'll be able to announce ... the first flying roadster."^[38] In 2016, AeroMobil was test-flying a prototype that obtained Slovak ultralight certification. When the final product will be available or how much it will cost is not yet specified.^[39] In 2018, it unveiled a concept that resembled a flying sportscar with VTOL capability.^[40] The Aeromobil 2.5 has folding wings and a Rotax 912 engine. It can travel at 200 kilometres per hour (124 mph) with a range of 690 kilometres (430 mi), and flew for the first time in 2013.^[41][42] On 29 October 2014, Slovak startup AeroMobil s.r.o. unveiled AeroMobil 3.0^[39] at Vienna Pioneers Festival.^[43]

Klein Vision in Slovakia have developed a prototype AirCar, which drives like a sports car and for flight has a pusher propeller with twin tailbooms, and foldout wings. In June 2021, the prototype carried out a 35-minute flight between airports.^[44][45] It was type certified as an aircraft in January 2022.^[46]

The Terrafugia Transition is a roadable aircraft intended to be classed as a Personal Air Vehicle. It can fold its wings in 30 seconds and drive the front wheels, enabling it to operate both as a traditional road vehicle and as a general aviation aeroplane with a range of 500 mi (800 km). An operational prototype was displayed at Oshkosh in 2008^[47] and its first flight took place on 2009-03-05.^[48] It will carry two people plus luggage and its Rotax 912S engine operates on premium unleaded gas.^[49] It was approved by the FAA in June 2010.^[50]

The production-ready single-engine, roadable PAL-V Liberty autogyro, or gyrocopter, debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018, then became the first flying car in production, and was set to launch in 2020,^[51] with full production scheduled for 2021 in Gujarat, India.^[52] The PAL-V ONE is a hybrid of a gyrocopter with a leaning 3-wheel motorcycle. It has two seats and a 160 kW flight certified gasoline engine. It has a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph) on land and in air, and weighs 910 kg (2,010 lb) max.^[53][54]

On 15 April 2021, Los Altos, California, became home to the world's first consumer flying car showroom.^[55] However, as yet there are no certified flying cars in production.

In 2023 Doroni Aerospace earned an official FAA Airworthiness Certification. It is powered by ten independent propulsion systems. They company claimed a top speed of 140 mph and a 60-mile range. It includes two electric motors with patented ducted propellers. The machine is 23 ft long and 14 ft wide.^[56]

Design

A flying car must be capable of safe and reliable operation both on public roads and in the air. Current types require manual control by both a driver and a pilot. For mass adoption, it would also need to be environmentally friendly, able to fly without a fully qualified pilot at the controls, and come at affordable purchase and running costs.^[57]

Design configurations vary widely, from modified road vehicles such as the AVE Mizar at one extreme to modified aircraft such as the Plane Driven PD-1 at the other. Most are dedicated flying car designs. While wheeled propulsion is necessary on the road, in the air lift may be generated by fixed wings, helicopter rotors or direct engine power. The Alef Model A project offers an unusual configuration in which the body of the car is hollow and the sides are slabs; in the air it rolls sideways so that the slabs become a biplane wing. The cabin remains upright.^[58]

Lift

Like other aircraft, lift in flight is provided by a fixed wing, spinning rotor or direct powered lift. The powered helicopter rotor and direct lift both offer VTOL capability, while the fixed wing and autogyro rotor take off conventionally from a runway.

The simplest and earliest approach was to take a driveable car and attach removable flying surfaces and propeller. However, when on the road, such a design must either tow its removable parts on a separate trailer or leave them behind and drive back to them before taking off again.

Other conventional takeoff fixed-wing designs, such as the Terrafugia Transition, include folding wings that the car carries with it when driven on the road.

Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) is attractive, as it avoids the need for a runway and greatly increases operational flexibility. Typical designs include rotorcraft and ducted fan powered lift configurations.^[59] Most design concepts have inherent problems.

Rotorcraft include helicopters with powered rotors and autogyros with free-spinning rotors. For road use, a rotor must, like many naval helicopters, be either two-bladed or foldable. The quadcopter requires only a simple control system with no tail. The autogyro relies on a separate thrust system to build up airspeed, spin the rotor and generate lift. However, some autogyros have rotors that can be spun up on the ground and then disengaged, allowing the aircraft to jump-start vertically. The PAL-V Liberty is an example of the autogyro type.

Ducted-fan aircraft such as the Moller Skycar tend to easily lose stability and have been unable to travel at greater than 30–40 knots.^[60]

Power

The flying car places unique demands on the vehicle power train. For a given all-up weight, an aero engine must deliver higher power than its typical road equivalent. However, on the road the vehicle must handle well and not be overpowered. Power must also be diverted between the airborne and road drive mechanisms. Some designs therefore have multiple engines, with the road engine being supplemented, or even replaced by, additional flight engines.

As with other vehicles, power has traditionally been supplied by internal combustion engines, but electric power is undergoing rapid development. It is coming into increasing use on road vehicles, but the weight of the batteries currently makes it unsuited to aircraft. However its low environmental signature makes it attractive for the short trips and dense urban environments envisaged for the flying car.

On the road, most flying cars drive the road wheels in the conventional way. A few use the aircraft propeller in similar manner to an airboat, but this is inefficient.

In the air, a flying car will typically obtain forward thrust from one or more propellers or ducted fans. A few have a powered helicopter rotor. Jet engines are not used due to the ground hazard posed by the hot, high-velocity exhaust stream.

Safety

In order to operate safely, a flying car must be certified independently as both a road vehicle and an aircraft, by the respective authorities. The person controlling the vehicle must also be licensed as both driver and pilot, and the vehicle maintained according to both regimes.

Mechanically, the requirements of powered flight are so challenging that every opportunity must be taken to keep weight to a minimum. A typical airframe is therefore lightweight and easily damaged. On the other hand, a road vehicle must be able to withstand significant impact loads from casual incidents while stationary, as well as low-speed and high-speed impacts, and the high strength this demands can add considerable weight. A practical flying car must be both strong enough to pass road safety standards and light enough to fly. Any propeller or rotor blade also creates a hazard to passers-by when on the ground, especially if it is spinning; they must be permanently shrouded, or folded away on landing.

For widespread adoption, as envisaged in the near future, it will not be practicable for every driver to qualify as a pilot and the rigorous maintenance currently demanded for aircraft will be uneconomic. Flying cars will have to become largely autonomous and highly reliable. The density of traffic will require automated routing and collision-avoidance systems. To manage the inevitable periodic failures and emergency landings, there will need to be sufficient designated landing sites across built-up areas. In addition, poor weather conditions could make the craft unsafe to fly.^[61]

Regulatory regimes are being developed in anticipation of a large increase in the numbers of autonomous flying cars and personal air vehicles in the near future, and compliance with these regimes will be necessary for safe flight.^{[citation needed][where?]}

Control

A basic flying car requires the person at the controls to be both a qualified road driver and aircraft pilot. This is impractical for the majority of people and so wider adoption will require computer systems to de-skill piloting. These skills include aircraft manoeuvring, navigation and emergency procedures, all in potentially crowded airspace. The onboard control system will also need to interact with other systems such as air traffic control and collision-risk monitoring. A practical flying car may need to be capable of full autonomy, in which people are present only as passengers.

Environment

A flying car capable of widespread use must operate acceptably within a heavily populated urban environment. The lift and propulsion systems must be quiet enough not to cause a nuisance, and must not create excessive pollution. For example, pollution emissions standards for road vehicles must be met.

The clear environmental benefits of electric power are a strong incentive for its development.

Cost

The needs for the propulsion system to be both small and powerful, the vehicle structure both light and strong, and the control systems fully integrated and autonomous, can only be met at present, if at all, using advanced and expensive technologies. This may prove a significant barrier to widespread adoption.^[62]

Flying cars are used for relatively short distances at high frequency. They travel at lower speeds and altitudes than conventional passenger aircraft. However optimal fuel efficiency for aeroplanes is obtained at higher speeds and altitudes, so a flying car's energy efficiency will be lower than that of a conventional aircraft.^[63] Similarly, the flying car's road performance is compromised by the requirements of flight and the need to carry around the various extra parts, so it is also less economical than a conventional motor car.

Industry groups

In April 2012, the International Flying Car Association was established to be the "central resource center for information and communication between the flying car industry, news networks, governments, and those seeking further information worldwide".^[64] Because flying cars need practical regulations that are mostly dealt with on a regional level, several regional associations were established as well, with the European Flying Car Association (EFCA) representing these national member associations on a pan-European level (51 independent countries, including the European Union Member States, the Accession Candidates and Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine).^[65] The associations are also organizing racing competitions for roadable aircraft in Europe, the European Roadable Aircraft Prix (ERAP), mainly to increase awareness about this type of aircraft among a broader audience.^[66]

List of flying cars and roadable aircraft

This list may not be complete. Please add more entries as you find them in reliable sources.

Type	Country	Class	Date	Status	No.	Notes
Aerauto PL.5C	Italy	Folding wings	1949	Flown	1
Aerocar	US	Detachable wings	1946	Flown	5	Also known as the "Taylor Aerocar". 4 Aerocars and one Aerocar III built (The Mk. II was not a flying car).
Aerocar 2000	US	Detachable wings	2000 approx.	Flown
AeroMobil	Slovakia	Folding wings	2013	Flown		v3.0 crashed. 4.0 under development
Alef Model A	US	Tilting biplane	2023	Unbuilt	0	Attracted significant investment.[67][68]
Audi Pop.Up Next	Germany	Quadcopter	2018	Unbuilt	1
Autogiro Company of America AC-35	US	Autogyro	1935	Flown	1
AVE Mizar	US	Detachable wings	1971	Flown	1
Bel Geddes' "Motorcar No. 9."	US	Folding wings	1945	Unbuilt		Concept ^[citation needed]
Bryan Autoplane	US	Folding wings	1953	Flown	2	Model II converted to Model III.
Butterfly Super Sky Cycle	US	Autogyro	2009	Flown		Homebuilt autogyro. Registered motorcycle
Convair Model 116 ConVairCar	US	Detachable wings	1946	Flown	1
Convair Model 118 ConVairCar	US	Detachable wings	1947	Flown	2	Second vehicle re-used the aircraft section from the first.
Curtiss Autoplane	US	Detachable wings	1917	Not flown	1	Achieved short hops
Dixon Flying Ginny	US	Helicopter	1940	Flown	1	Co-axial rotor.[69]
Ford Volante	US	Ducted fan	1958	Unbuilt		Concept.[70][71]
Fulton Airphibian	US	Detachable wings	1946	Flown	4
Hafner Rotabuggy	UK	Detachable rotor	1942	Flown		Willys MB jeep, air-towed as a rotor kite.
Handley Page HP.120[72][73]	UK	Lift fan	1961	Unflown		2-man VTOL convertible "Jumping Jeep" project
I-TEC Maverick	US	Parafoil	2008	Flown
Klein Vision AirCar	Slovakia	Folding wings	2021	Flown	1	Production model in development.
Lebouder Autoplane	France	Detachable wings	1973	Flown	1	Won prizes.^[clarification needed]
Moller M400 Skycar	US	Vectored fan	1960s	Not flown		Unsuccessful as of 2019
Monster Garage "Red Baron"	US	Detachable wings	2005	Flown	1	Based on a Panoz Esperante sports car, with detachable airframe.[74]
PAL-V Liberty	Netherlands	Autogyro	2012	Flown		Production model under development.
Parajet Skycar	UK	Parafoil	2008	Flown	1
Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep	US	Ducted rotor	1959	Flown		VTOL "flying jeep".
Plane Driven PD-1	US	Folding wings	2010	Flown	2	Modified Glasair Sportsman 2+2 aircraft. The second prototype is designated the PD-2.
Samson Switchblade	US	Folding wings	2023	Flown	1	[75]
Scaled Composites Model 367 BiPod	US	Detachable wings	2011	Not flown	1	Twin-fuselage technology development vehicle. Not flown.
Skroback Roadable Airplane	US	Multiplane	1925	Not flown	1
SkyRider X2R	US			Unbuilt
Terrafugia Transition	US	Folding wings	2009	Flown
Terrafugia TF-X	US	Hybrid		Unbuilt		VTOL convertiplane with folding wings and rotors.
Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk	Israel			Unbuilt		VTOL. Under development.[76]
Vlachos Triphibian	US		1936			^[citation needed]
Wagner Aerocar	Germany	Helicopter	1965	Flown
Waterman Arrowbile	US	Folding wings	1935	Flown	1
Whitehead No. 21 ^[dubious – discuss]	US	Folding wings	1901	Not flown	1

Popular culture

The flying car was and remains a common feature of conceptions of the future, both predicted and imaginary.^[7]

Anticipation

Flying cars have been under development since the early days of motor transport and aviation, and many futurologists have predicted their imminent arrival. Aircraft manufacturer Glenn Curtiss unveiled his unflyable Autoplane in 1917. In 1940, vehicle manufacturer Henry Ford predicted that; "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”^[77]

From 1945, industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes promoted his concept for a streamlined flying car with folding wings.^[78] In the late 1950s, Ford's Advanced Design studio publicised a 3/8 scale concept car model, the Volante Tri-Athodyne. It featured three ducted fans, each with its own motor, that would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. Ford admitted that "the day where there will be an aero-car in every garage is still some time off", also suggesting that "the Volante indicates one direction that the styling of such a vehicle would take".^[70][71]

Where's my flying car?

Despite a century of anticipation, no flying car has yet proved a practical proposition and they remain an experimental curiosity. This long-term failure to make any impact on society has led to the meme, "Where's my flying car?"

Here we are, less than a month until the turn of the millennium, and what I want to know is, what happened to the flying cars? We're about to become Americans of the 21st century. People have been predicting what we'd be like for more than 100 years, and our accoutrements don't entirely live up to expectations. ... Our failure to produce flying cars seems like a particular betrayal since it was so central to our image.

— Gail Collins, (1999) ^[79]

This new millennium sucks! It's exactly the same as the old millennium! You know why? No flying cars!

— Lewis Black, (2018)^[80]

The question "Where's my flying car?" has become emblematic of the wider failure of many modern technologies to match futuristic visions that were promoted in earlier decades.^[81][82]

Fictional flying cars

Blade Runner Spinner prop car at Disney/MGM Studios

The time machine DeLorean of Back to the Future in flying configuration with doors open

Main article: List of films featuring flying cars

The flying car has been depicted in many works of fantasy and science fiction.^[83] Some notable examples include:

• Supercar starred in its own children's TV show in the UK, between 1961 and 1962. It was jet-powered with VTOL capability, and on the road it hovered rather than used wheels. Created by Gerry Anderson, it was the first show to credit his supermarionation puppet technology.^[84]
• The Jetsons American animated cartoon sitcom was originally aired from 1962 to 1963. It featured flying cars as ubiquitous. They typically had a large bubble roof, the design being inspired by a Ford concept road car from 1954, the FX-Atmos.^[85]
• The film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) features a car that flies via magic.
• A flying 1974 AMC Matador coupe features in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), the ninth in the James Bond film series.^[86] The Matador coupe is transformed into an aeroplane in similar manner to the AVE Mizar, by attaching a large wing with engine and tail unit to the car.^[87][88] In aircraft configuration it is 9.15 m (30 ft) long, 12.80 m (42 ft) in span and 3.08 m (10 ft) high.^[89] The film prop was not airworthy and a 1 m (39 in)-long remote control model was used for the aerial sequences.^[89][90]
• In the Blade Runner (original 1982) films, flying cars are called spinners. They have vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability.^[91] The vehicle was conceived and designed by Syd Mead who described it as an "aerodyne"—a vehicle which directs air downward to create lift, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional internal combustion, jet, and anti-gravity"^[92] A Spinner prop is on permanent exhibit at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington.^[93]
• In the Back to the Future (1985) films, the DeLorean time machine car was modified to be capable of normal flight.^[94]
• In the film The Fifth Element (1997), as with The Jetsons, flying cars are the main means of personal transport. The production design for the film was developed by French comics creators Jean Giraud^[95] and Jean-Claude Mézières.^[96] Director Luc Besson had been inspired by Mézières' book The Circles of Power.^[97][98]

See also

• Amphibious automobile
• Intermodal passenger transport

References

1. Freeman, David. "Gustave Whitehead's First Flight Beat Wright Brothers' By Years, Aviation Expert Contends". Huffington Post. 22 May 2013. "[Whitehead] purportedly took aloft a flying car of his own design".
2. Bongartz, Roy. "Was Whitehead First?" Popular Mechanics. December 1981. Pp.68-76. "Beech described the plane as self-powered on the ground, like an automobile".
3. Glass, Andrew. Flying Cars: The True Story, Clarion, 2015. ISBN 978-0618984824. Chapter 2. "Despite controversy, the chronicle of Gustave Whitehead's flying automobile..."
4. Schlenoff, Daniel C. (8 July 2014). "Scientific American Debunks Claim Gustave Whitehead Was 'First in Flight'". Scientific American. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
5. Burns, Ashley (15 August 2017). "Connecticut Towns Honor Gustave Whitehead, Reigniting 'First in Flight' Debate". Flying Magazine. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
6. Crouch, Tom (2016). "The Flight Claims of Gustave Whitehead" (PDF). Journal of Aeronautical History. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
7. Thomas Vinciguerra (11 April 2009). "Flying Cars: An Idea Whose Time Has Never Come". The New York Times.
8. "News Cameras Film Thrilling Rescue". Popular Science. January 1936. p. 29. constantinos vlachos popular science.
9. "Hard-Luck Vlachos". Special-Interest Autos: 44. July 1974. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
10. Newsreel of flying car on fire on YouTube
11. Dawson, Virginia; Bowles, Mark D. (2005). Realizing the dream of flight: biographical essays in honor of the centennial of flight, 1903–2003. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Division, Office of External Relations. p. 70. ASIN B002Y26TM0.
12. "Drives Machine Through Trafic (sic)and Then Flies It", Chicago Daily Tribune, February 22, 1937, p. 6
13. "Plane Sheds Wing To Run On Ground". Popular Science. May 1937.
14. "Tailless Flivver Plane Has Pusher Propeller" Popular Science, May 1934, rare photos in article
15. Zaloga, Steven J. (2005). Jeeps 1941–45. Osprey Publishing. pp. 37–38. ISBN 1-84176-888-X.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
16. Andrew Glass (2015). Flying Cars: The True Story. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 84–. ISBN 978-0-547-53423-7.
17. "Catalogue description Project PRODIGAL: Army vehicle with limited airborne capability".
18. https://www.baesystems.com/en-uk/feature/1960s-lsquothunderbirdsrsquo-projects-brought-to-life ^{[bare URL]}
19. "Forgotten designs: BAE's extraordinary Jumping Jeep". 17 June 2013.
20. Project Cancelled: Disaster of Britain's Abandoned Aircraft Projects Hardcover – 1 Sept. 1986 by Derek Wood ISBN 0710604416
21. Handley Page Aircraft since 1907 (Putnam Aeronautical Books) Hardcover – 1 Jan. 1987 by C.H. (Revised By Derek N James) Barnes (Author) ASIN B007Q1Y6HY, pp. 579–582
22. "Handley Page HP120 Flying Car". collections.rafmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
23. From Sea to Air Hardcover – 1989 by A.E. Tagg ISBN 0950973939
24. The Pye Book of Science – Maurice Rickards 1963
25. "The British Army's Flying Cars". 17 March 2020.
26. Category: Uncategorised (26 September 2012). "Moller International Home". Moller.com. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
27. "Flight 2002". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
28. "Rinspeed Squba, The First Underwater Flying Car". autoforsale.co.in. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
29. "Vest-pocket VTOL. (vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft, Sky Commuter) (column)". Mechanical Engineering-CIME. 1 December 1990. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
30. "Sky Commuter vehicle prototype for sale". Urbanaero.com. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
31. Warwick, Graham. Leading Edge blog: DARPA's Transformer – a Humvee That Flies Archived 23 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, AW&ST On Technology, Aviation Week online website, 16 April 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
32. Warwick, Graham. "Is Darpa's Fly-Drive Transformer on the Right Road?". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on 10 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
33. Logan Ward, 10 Most Brilliant Innovators of 2009: I-TEC's Flying Dune Buggy Archived 12 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Popular Mechanics, November 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
34. Budd Davisson (October 2010). "The PD-1 Roadable Glastar". Sport Aviation.
35. "Company Moves On Transformative Roadable Glasair". 20 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
36. Blain, Loz. "The flying motorcycle – road-registered and available now" GizMag, 17 April 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
37. "Pictures of the day" The Daily Telegraph, 9 November 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
38. Mack, Eric. "Finally! A Flying Car Could Go On Sale By 2017". Forbes. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
39. "AeroMobil: Flying car". aeromobil.com. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
40. "Will this futuristic flying car ever get off the ground?". NBC News. 22 March 2018.
41. Alyssa Danigelis. "Slovakian Flying Car Prototype Takes Off Archived 19 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine" Discovery News, 21 October 2013. Accessed: 22 October 2013.
42. Melin, Jan. "Här lyfter en ny flygbil". Ny Teknik.
43. "VB". venturebeat.com. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
44. Zoe Kleinman; "Flying car completes test flight between airports", BBC, 30 June 2021.
45. "Klein Vision – Flying Car".
46. Phelps, Mark (24 January 2022). "AirCar Notches Slovakian Airworthiness Certification". AVweb. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
47. "Terrafugia ready for road, flight testing". Airventure.org. 2 August 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
48. Haines, Thomas B. (19 March 2009). "AOPA Online: First roadable airplane takes flight". Aopa.org. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
49. Jerry Garrett (5 April 2012), "For $279,000, Terrafugia Transition Puts the Wind Beneath Your Wings", Wheels blog, The New York Times, retrieved 20 April 2013
50. O'Carroll, Eoin. "Flying Car – just like the Jetsons – gets green light from FAA". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
51. "World's first flying car on track for 2020 launch". South China Morning Post. 25 July 2018.
52. "Flying car PAL-V to be built in Gujarat, MoU inked with Dutch firm". The Economic Times.
53. Quick, Darren. "PAL-V flying car makes successful first test flight" GizMag, 2 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
54. "PAL-V". PAL-V. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
55. "Announcing ASKA The Electric Take Off And Landing Flying Car For Consumers". 15 April 2021.
56. Johnson, Peter (1 December 2023). "Doroni's all-electric flying car gets flight certified in the US". Electrek. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
57. Pan, Gaofeng; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim (2021). "Flying Car Transportation System: Advances, Techniques, and Challenges". IEEE Access. 9: 24586–24603. arXiv:2005.00832. Bibcode:2021IEEEA...924586P. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3056798.
58. "Alef Debuts Model A Flying Car and Hopes to Sell It Starting in 2025". 19 October 2022.
59. "Your Flying Car? Delayed again, but you WILL get it, says Terrafugia". theregister.co.uk. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
60. "When cars fly". haaretz.com. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
61. "Top 5 Reasons You Don't Want a Flying Car". howstuffworks.com. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
62. Gail Collins; Dan Collins (1 December 1990). The Millennium Book: Your Essential All-purpose Guide to the Year 2000. Main Street Books. ISBN 978-0-385-41165-3.
63. Barney L. Capehart (2007). Encyclopedia of Energy Engineering and Technology, Volume 1. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-3653-8, ISBN 978-0-8493-3653-9.
64. "IFCA Announces Flying Cars About To Hit World Market". Various. 2 April 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
65. "European Flying Car Association". EFCA. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
66. "EFCA launches roadable aircraft competition in Europe". EFCA. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
67. "Alef Reveals Prototypes For A Flying Car That's Really A Flying Car". Forbes. 19 October 2022.
68. "Flying car by California startup Alef attracts early Tesla investor". Reuters. 19 October 2022.
69. G. Sidney Waits; "Dixon helicopter photo was accurate", The Andalusia Star-News, 2 January 2009. (Retrieved 20 July 2021)
70. Joseph J. Cor; Brian Horrigan (15 May 1996). Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801853999.
71. Lionel Salisbury. "Volante (Ford) VTOL". Roadable Times. Archived from the original on 14 July 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
72. Aeroplane Monthly 1977-10
73. https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/LargePrintGuides/Height.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
74. "Mike Allen; Jesse James Builds A Flying Car On 'Monster Garage'", Popular Mechanics, 29 July 2005. (retrieved 11 July 2021)
75. "First flight: Switchblade flying car — General Aviation News". generalaviationnews.com. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
76. "Urban Aeronautics". Urbanaero.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
77. Popular Science: Looking back at Henry Ford's Flivver: A plane-car for the man of average means, December 2001 Archived 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
78. "Norman Bel Geddes Database". norman.hrc.utexas.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
79. "Future shock: Why there'll be no flying cars". The Post and Courier. 12 December 1999. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
80. "The Unexpected Rebirth of the Flying Car". Popular Science. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
81. Where's My Flying Car? Science, Science Fiction, and a Changing Vision of the Future, Symposium, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014.[1]
82. J. Storrs Hall; Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past, Kindle e-book, Amazon, 2018.
83. Onosko, Tim (1979). Wasn't the Future Wonderful?: A View of Trends and Technology From the 1930s. Dutton. pp. 24, 51, 152–153. ISBN 0-525-47551-6. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
84. Daniel DiManna; "Remembering Gerry Anderson's ‘Supercar'", The News Wheel, 30 April 2021. (retrieved 20 July 2021)
85. John Orlin; "It's 2012 Already So Where Are All The Jetsons Flying Cars", TechCrunch, 1 January 2012. (retrieved 19 July 2021)
86. Peters, Eric (2011). Road hogs: Detroit's big, beautiful luxury performance cars of the 1960s. Motorbooks. p. 99. ISBN 9780760333884. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
87. "RIP Christopher Lee, Driver of One of the Greatest Bond Cars of All Time". The News Wheel. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
88. Tannert, Chuck. "Top 10: getaway cars (AMC Matador in "The Man with the Golden Gun")". MSN Autos. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
89. "A Chronological History of the James Bond Film Vehicles #6. Flying Cars in "The Man with the Golden Gun"". carenthusiast.com. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
90. Weisseg, Mark (20 January 2016). "Flying Muscle Cars: Fact or Fiction?". Fast Muscle Car. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
91. Sammon, pp. 79–80
92. "The top 40 cars from feature films: 30. Police Spinner", ScreenJunkies.com, 30 March 2010, archived from the original on 4 April 2014, retrieved 27 July 2011, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: 'conventional internal combustion, jet and anti-gravity'.
93. EMPSFM Brochure (PDF), Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2011, retrieved 27 July 2011
94. Tate, Karl (21 October 2015). "How the Time Traveling 'Back to the Future' DeLorean Works (Infographic)". livescience.com. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
95. Heller, Jason (10 March 2012). "R.I.P. Moebius, comics legend and Métal Hurlant co-founder". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
96. Anders, Charlie (1 July 2012). "Luc Besson adapting classic time-travel comic created by Fifth Element concept artist". io9. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
97. Teichner, Martha (22 January 2012). "Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion's wild child". CBS News. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
98. Sehajpal, Ashima (8 July 2011). "Flirting with change". The Tribune. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

Further reading

• Ahmed, Sheikh Shahriar; Hulme, Kevin F.; Fountas, Grigorios; Eker, Ugur; Benedyk, Irina V.; Still, Stephen E.; Anastasopoulos, Panagiotis Ch (2020). "The Flying Car—Challenges and Strategies Toward Future Adoption". Frontiers in Built Environment. 6. doi:10.3389/fbuil.2020.00106.
• BBC News Flying cars in 25 years, BBC News Online, 22 September 2004.
• Brown, Stuart F. Why We're Not Driving the Friendly Skies, The New York Times online, 22 August 2014, and in print on 24 August 2014, on p. AU1 of the New York edition.
• Cohen, Adam P.; Shaheen, Susan A.; Farrar, Emily M. (2021). "Urban Air Mobility: History, Ecosystem, Market Potential, and Challenges". IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 22 (9): 6074–6087. doi:10.1109/TITS.2021.3082767.
• Farsi, Qusai Sulaiman Al; Myo, Thirein; Saeed, Burhan (2024). "Trends and Challenges in Realizing a Flying Car". Journal of Electrical Systems. 20 (5s): 709–718. doi:10.52783/jes.2295.
• Feltman, Rachel. Why Don't We Have Flying Cars?, Popular Mechanics, 21 February 2013.
• Hakim, Danny. A Helicopter of One's Own, The New York Times online, 16 June 2014, and in print on 17 June 2014, p. D2 of the New York edition.
• Hodgdon, Theodore, A.; Onosko, Tim (ed.) "At Last —a Convertible Auto-Plane", in Wasn't the Future Wonderful?: A View of Trends and Technology from the 1930s, Dutton, 1979, pp. 152–153, ISBN 0525475516, ISBN 978-0525475514.
• Rajashekara, Kaushik; Wang, Qingchun; Matsuse, Kouki (2016). "Flying Cars: Challenges and Propulsion Strategies". IEEE Electrification Magazine. 4 (1): 46–57. doi:10.1109/MELE.2015.2509901.
• Kasliwal, Akshat; Furbush, Noah J.; Gawron, James H.; McBride, James R.; Wallington, Timothy J.; De Kleine, Robert D.; Kim, Hyung Chul; Keoleian, Gregory A. (2019). "Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 1555. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10.1555K. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09426-0. PMC 6456499. PMID 30967534.

External links

• Roadable Times, pictures and descriptions of over 70 designs of flying cars and roadable aircraft past and present.
• How Flying Cars Will Work at HowStuffWorks.