Hasta La Gadget!

There is a first time for everything, even for a flying car. In fact, this road legal ride known as the Terrafugia Transition has finally took to the skies in public for the first time, making a milestone in its journey to arrive in garages (or should it be, a hangar instead?). It is said that the Terrafugia Transition took off and experienced a smooth flight, circling around the airfield for the public audience. Of course, getting up into the air is one thing, but how about landing? The low-speed landing happened without much drama at all, where all four wheels on the flying car touched the ground simultaneously. After landing, the pilot (or driver by then, since he is on the ground) parked for a minute before wowing the audience with its motorized self-folding wings.

The motorized self-folding wings are a crucial feature that should not fail at all, otherwise you would end up in a tight spot as you cannot drive on the streets. Bear in mind that the Terrafugia Transition that was shown off in the video happened to be the second of three generations of prototypes, so there is still some time left for Terrafugia to iron out whatever kinks that there are within. With an estimated price point of $279,000 when it rolls out in 2015 at best, it is definitely not cheap, but the Journal Sentinel claims that more than 100 people have already placed a reservation for the ride.

Like It , +1 , Tweet It , Pin It | Terrafugia Transition Achieves First Public Flight original content from Ubergizmo.

If you have been dreaming about flying around in your own Star Trek style shuttlecraft, that day is almost upon us. Terrafugia has unveiled a concept for a flying car that lot like a shuttlecraft that has the Enterprise’s warp nacelles. However, those nacelles have propellers.

This flying car is called the TF-X and is a hybrid gas-electric flying car. Twin 600 horsepower electric propeller pods and a 300 horsepower engine handle the transition from vertical takeoff to a maximum cruising speed of 200 miles per hour. It has a 500 mile range.

It is capable of both driving and landing itself. Terrafugia says that “you always have the final say if its safe to land.” Well, that’s encouraging.

The TF-X is fully capable of handling the entire landing process without you. But if it is about to kill you, it’s nice to know that you get the final say. It’s definitely an interesting design and we would love to see it in the skies.

[via Like Cool]

We’ve been hearing about Terrafugia’s Transition “flying car” for, well, far too long, considering that it has yet to even venture beyond the prototype phase. The prop plane / roadworthy vehicle combo has its fair share of fans — some of them with deep enough pockets to place an order — but it won’t be making its way from your garage to the runway anytime soon. With that in mind, the company’s TF-X vertical-takeoff model is even less likely to see the light of day, but it’s being considered nonetheless.

The plug-in hybrid-electric aircraft would take off and land vertically, like a helicopter — if the DOT and FAA allowed it, you could literally fly over the highway whenever you run into traffic, though we can’t imagine that pilots will ever get the green light to take off from public roads, even if the TF-X becomes a reality. For now, it exists only in the minds of Terrafugia’s ambitious team, a few image renders and a minute-long animated demo, which we’ve embedded for your viewing pleasure after the break.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: CNET

Source: Terrafugia (PR), TF-X Product Page

Remember how we covered previous stories about a flying car, and how one day down the road, the possibility of such a machine hit the market would be realized? Well, the day is surely drawing closer and closer, what with the Terrafugia flying car recently completing its first phase of a six-stage flight test program – and with flying colors, too. I guess this would mean it is one step nearer to the rich masses being able to afford an actual flying car with a sticker price tag of $279,000, although I do wonder about the quality of licensing that comes with it. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Terrafugia’s Transition flying car prototype completes first flight, Transition flying car is road legal now,