Air Van by Harry Einstein

In the driving mode, a 2 passenger model of the Air-Van is six feet wide by six feet tall by 17 feet long, smaller than a full size automobile. The four passenger model is one foot longer and the six passenger Air-Van would be 21 feet in length.

The two or four passenger Air-Van would easily fit in a single car garage. The concept calls for the vehicles to be offered as homebuilt experimental aircraft kits of metal construction. The cost per unit is estimated to be approximately 15% higher than a comparable aircraft that has no roadable capabilities.

In 2004 the developer advised that a patent on the design would be issued shortly.

Unknown Flying Car in the Museum of Flight

Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk

Urban Aeronautics is an Israeli company founded in 2002. The X-Hawk design will achieve lift by combining two Helicopter-like rotors with two airplane propellers. Unlike a helicopter, the X-Hawk's rotors will be fully contained to prevent them from hurting people or slicing power lines. Urban Aeronautics plans to focus primarily on emergency medical applications, providing EMTs with a fast flying ambulance in high-traffic urban areas.

Haynes Skyblazer - Flying Car

It's a design Batman would love. With wings that fold up at the push of a button, wheels that retract, and a powerful jet engine that powers the craft both on the road and in the air, Robin Haynes' Skyblazer has all the features needed to make it a top choice for the most discerning pilot or superhero.

Haynes estimates the craft will be able to fly about 250 mph while aloft, and have an easy-to-use computer navigation system. So far, the nifty design hasn't made it past the drawing board. Haynes says he'll need between $4 million and $5 million to build a flying prototype. It's also unclear if the FAA would certify such a jet-mounted vehicle, or whether it would be legal on the road.

Taylor Aerocar - Flying Car - 1959

One of the few flying cars to be certified for commercial production by the government was the Aerocar. The plane was directly inspired from the Airphibian, after designer Moulton Taylor met Robert Fulton. The Aerocar's cockpit detached from the tail and wings, and could be packed up and dragged in a trailer. The Aerocar failed to be a commercial success, although Taylor did sell one model to then-television celebrity Bob Cummings.

Volante - Flying Car - 2003

Volante Aircraft is one of the few companies currently operating that can boast a working prototype. Called the Volante, the craft is capable of flying at speeds of 150 mph. It has a cockpit that detaches from the wings and tail, much like the Airphibian. The Volante made its first successful flight in August, 2003, in the Mojave Desert in California. The car component of the vehicle is currently undergoing further testing. The company plans to first market the vehicle as a do-it-yourself kit that hobbyists can build, rather than going for full-scale production.

Flying Car Ready for Takeoff?

This summer, graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will try to get an idea aloft that has intrigued people for decades: the flying car.

Terrafugia, a start-up created by Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich and colleagues at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is aiming to show off what it calls the Transition "personal air vehicle," a vehicle resembling an SUV with retractable wings, to the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wis., at the end of July.

The Transition is designed for 100- to 500-mile jumps. It will carry two people and luggage on a single tank of premium unleaded gas. It will also come with an electric calculator (to help fine-tune weight distribution), airbags, aerodynamic bumpers and of course a GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation unit.

The company hopes to eventually have the vehicle classified so that it can be piloted with a light sport aircraft license.

No complete prototype exists yet, but the company has a one-fifth scale wind tunnel model (along with computer simulations) and will use the $30,000 from the Lemelson prize to build something to show off at the Oshkosh show. A fully operational prototype is expected to come out in 2008 or earlier, according to the company, while Transition vehicles are expected to hit the road, and the sky, by 2009 or 2010.

"We have a lot of confidence that if the interest is there, we can deliver this product," Dietrich said. "There is a huge amount of general interest, but the question is, is there a market for it?"



Building retractable wings won't be the major challenge: F-18s and even some World War II era planes have folding wings. Instead, one of the biggest challenges will be creating enough cargo room to satisfy customers. The planes, which will cruise up to 12,000 feet, will probably use an off-the-shelf engine, he added.

In the past few years, the skies have become a new frontier for entrepreneurs and academics. The chase for the X Prize led entrepreneur Richard Branson and others to begin to contemplate space tourism. PayPal founder Elon Musk, meanwhile, has started SpaceX, a private company that hopes to launch rockets for satellite deployment, similar to the more heavily funded Sea Launch venture. Stanford University professors teach a course on do-it-yourself satellites.

Short-range aircraft and flight start-ups have sprung up as well. Citrix founder Ed Iacobucci has launched DayJet, which plans on buying a fleet of Eclipse planes for on-demand travel between regional hubs. People Airlines founder has a similar company based on the small, lightweight Eclipse. (Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is an investor in Eclipse.)

And for backyard adventurers, Elwood "Woody" Norris has the AirScooter, a personal helicopter. Graduate students at Stanford also have hatched a secretive start-up geared at recreational flyers, according to sources familiar with their plans.

Flying cars are technically feasible; Terrafugia points out that inventor Molt Taylor built prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s--but they haven't been practical from an economic perspective.

The picture has changed, however, with the development of lighter and stronger construction materials and more efficient engines. Terrafugia is aiming to build a vehicle that will fly at 120 miles per hour and get 30 miles a gallon in the air. (It will also get 40 miles per gallon on the freeway and 30 in the city).

The Transition vehicle will carry a payload of only 430 pounds, far less than cars, but how many cars can take flight after 1,500 feet of takeoff space?

Demand also has finally begun to emerge. Today's clogged freeway traffic and dispersed suburban living patterns have created an audience for these types of vehicles. Regional airports are also somewhat plentiful and underutilized. In addition, Federal Aviation Administration regulations passed in 2004 have made it easier to get a sport pilot's license.

"Since 9/11, for the first time, average door-to-door travel speed has really dropped substantially due to a combination of increased security measures at airports and more road traffic," Dietrich said in a statement accepting the Lemelson prize.

The Lemelson foundation, named after controversial inventor and patent litigant Jerome Lemelson, gives an annual student award, as well as lifetime awards, to inventors. Past winners of the student prize included James McLurkin for his work on swarming robots. Lifetime achievement winners included Segway inventor Dean Kamen.

The foundation cited Dietrich, one of the star students in the department, for other accomplishments. Dietrich also holds a patent for the Centrifugal Direct Injection Engine, a low-cost, high-performance rocket propulsion engine. For his doctoral work, he is researching how a fusion reactor could be used to power a spacecraft.

CNet

Street-Legal Jet Powered VW Beetle

The street-legal jet car on full afterburner. The car has two engines: the production gasoline engine in the front driving the front wheels and the jet engine in the back. The idea is that you drive around legally on the gasoline engine and when you want to have some fun, you spin up the jet and get on the burner (you can start the jet while driving along on the gasoline engine).

JetBeetle