https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjy-fnsmWR4
About time is all I can say:
New Hampshire has passed a new law that allows so-called “flying cars” on its public roads, but they won’t be using them as runways, except in emergencies.
The “Jetson Law” makes provisions in the state’s motor vehicle rules for roadable aircraft, which are designed with retractable wings and rotors so they can be driven like a car.
The PAL-V’s name is short for Personal Land Air Vehicle. (AP)
Several vehicles, including the Terrafugia Transition, Samson Swtichblade and PAL-V are currently in development and available for reservations and New Hampshire is looking to be on the forefront of the potential transportation trend.
The Terrafugia TF-X is designed to fit in a single-car garage. (Terrafugia)
Go here to read the rest. Not practical and too expensive? True. But the same could have been said of the intial horseless carriages in the 1890s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDaHRbIDH8
The Jetsons was set in 2062. Perhaps we will have flying cars in common use by then.
The problem is mechanical failures. If I have an engine problem with my car and I lose power, I just pull to the side of the road. If my flying car has a loss of power, how many hundreds of feet do I fall before I crash? If you look at early flying days, there was a tremendous death rate. They will be required to be heavily regulated with mandatory maintenance records and probably a limited flying time before they are required to be grounded.
Endless problems to begin with. The key feature is an AI able to fly them safely. A toy for very rich people initially.
It takes a great deal of training to get a pilot’s license. It’s that way for a reason. Over the period running from 2005 to 2019, the number of pilot’s licenses per capita declined by about 2.5%. Air passenger-miles and highway passenger-miles (per capita per year) both increased by about 13%.
A doctor friend calls single engine planes, doctor suicide machines. They can afford them and pilot them but never quite have time to master them or really maintain them. Watch the news and see how many small plane fatalities are at the hands of a doctor.
The Virus evidently has mental derangement component.
I recently took my kids to the Tillamook Air Museum on the Oregon Coast. It is the site of the former Tillamook Naval Air station, and is housed inside the enormous blimp hangar built during World War 2. In addition to military and commercial air craft, they also house some home built and hobby planes, and a gyrocopter donated by their owners. I suspect museum donation is the fate of a lot of these once the owners scare themselves silly, or find the cost of maintenance to be too prohibitive. I suspect those flying cars that don’t crash and kill their owners will end up in similar museums.
http://www.tillamookair.com/
Michael Dowd has it down pat. There are simply a lot of loons in new Hampshire.
Can you imagine student drivers?