Flying Car... For Real?

from the where-are-the-flying-pigs? dept

Mon, Jun 13th 2005 1:12am — Mike Masnick

We've been promised flying cars for years, and they always seem to come up a bit short, but the folks over at Silicon Beat have a post claiming that one of their readers emailed them saying he actually managed to commute to work last week by gyroplane -- including driving the gyroplane on the road from his house to the airport and from the airport to his office. It would be nice to have a little more proof that this really happened -- but for the sake of this post, we'll trust the Silicon Beat guys that they trust their email correspondent. It apparently took quite a bit of red tape to get the device approved to both fly and travel on the road, but after a month or so of negotiating he received approval. Next up? Making more of them and selling them. So perhaps the flying car isn't so far off after all... Though, of course, it's not entirely clear how happy the FAA (or airports) will be with lots of little gyroplanes flying the friendly skies. Perhaps the next big infrastructure investment will be in creating gyroplane takeoff and landing facilities. Update: In researching the story further, it appears the intrepid reporters are now questioning the overall story, as it's not quite as impressive as it was originally made out to be. It does work... sort of. But, the car can only drive very slowly and over short distances, and it takes quite a bit of time to make the car switch modes.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

12 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

dorpus, 13 Jun 2005 @ 2:21am

Flying Incendiaries
Now 16-year-olds can drop Molotov cocktails on, say, the dry hills of California, and watch hundreds of million-dollar homes get roasted.

[ link to this | view in thread ]
thecaptain, 13 Jun 2005 @ 4:58am

Problem with flying machines
Coming from my morning commute, I sincerely think that flying cars are a bad idea.

Most of the morons on the road can barely handle 2 dimensional navigation. I shudder to think what they'd do with 3.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bob Dole, 13 Jun 2005 @ 6:11am

Re: Problem with flying machines
I don't see how the flying car, if it's the one in the picture, can drive on the roads. It has no front license plate, no headlights, and apparently no tail lights. That's assuming it can get away with driving without a front bumper, etc. I think this is bogus.
The graphic is kinda interesting -- most of the guys who commute by air really don't save that much time unless it's a 160+ mile commute.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dorpus, 13 Jun 2005 @ 6:14am

Re: Problem with flying machines
Maybe it could become street-legal in poor countries. Then we'd have illegal Mexican immigrants raining from the sky.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
data64, 13 Jun 2005 @ 7:32am

Mobile Phones
So, are we allowed to use mobile phones, while we are in one of these contraptions ?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike (profile), 13 Jun 2005 @ 8:53am

Re: Problem with flying machines
I don't see how the flying car, if it's the one in the picture, can drive on the roads.

I believe the picture is of a generic gyroplane, not the one in question...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous, 13 Jun 2005 @ 3:04pm

No Subject Given
The tech for "flying cars" has existed since Molt Taylor in the 1950s. And, so has the resistance from our goverment agency that's formally chartered to "Promote and regulate civil aviation".

To be more blunt: The FAA has always resisted anything that would take the number of light aircraft up by a step function. In fact, they once told Molt that they would do anything necessary to stop it...

[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dresk, 15 Jun 2005 @ 8:31pm

Re: Problem with flying machines
Mexicans are nice people. Perhaps the one crossing the borders are troublemakers and that's why you americans hate them? I don't know... maybe it's like with colombians here (Venezuela). I've never been in Colombia, but my friends say it's pretty and the people are awesome. But all my experiences with colombians here are bad (ranging from crooks to thieves). Colombian girls are stunning, though.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Arnold Walker, 3 Sep 2007 @ 3:40pm

flying car
If it was in Texas and made by Butterfly LLC ...
Him and about twenty other customer vehicles did.
Techno matter...in 40 of the 50 states anything with
three wheel up 65ft long X 13.5 ft high X 9ft wide is a motorcycle.
The first flying car to be built in 1935 was Pitcairn and
is on display in Washington DC's aviation musuem.The government was rationing steel and other materials and didn't think his prototype was worth pursuing in production.
You can see Larry Neal and Carter on Utube.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
yaro, 13 Nov 2007 @ 9:19pm

cars
i think flying cars are real and when they will be in use it will be realy cool
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jessica, 14 Feb 2008 @ 11:55am

flying car
yeaa flying car baby
[ link to this | view in thread ]
a concerned 17 year old..., 24 Apr 2009 @ 10:55am

Re: Flying Incendiaries
I find that comment offensive... you seem to imply that we are all reckless and careless, and that we enjoy burning expensive homes... I find a charcoal forge and a chunk of steel much more to my liking, but that's beside the point... where do adults get off assuming that us teenage guys just want to hurt people and break things? -.-

same mistake the insurance companies made when they charge us twice as much as our female counterparts...
[ link to this | view in thread ]