We ran across this article from the business blog of a new website for new businesses called LaunchLab (LaunchLab.co.uk). It’s about flying cars and the concept has been around for several decades.  The technology is well advanced and flying cars can, indeed, happen!
Cars Might Fly, by Dan Mathews
Sometimes an invention comes along that is so valuable that the infrastructure around it is forced to catch up.
Take the automobile, for instance. In the 1860s, when wealthy daredevils became the first drivers, British cities were unable to accommodate it. Muddy or cobbled roads, crowds of horse-drawn carriages and over-keen regulators made life hard for the car.
Seeing the hazards of introducing motorised vehicles into bustling city streets, lawmen came up with an Act of Parliament which limited motor vehicles to a 2mph speed limit in metropolitan areas and 4mph in the countryside.
They restricted the weight of each vehicle (to a maximum of 12 tonnes), decreed that drivers should stop on sight of a horse and that each car required a crew of three, including a flag-barer who walked ahead of the vehicle warning others of its approach.
Over the decades, as the car evolved from rich man’s toy to practical necessity, the law and the very structure of the country changed to accommodate it. But now the car’s limitations are once more beginning to tell.
Despite our best efforts, the story has gone full-circle and our vehicle of choice is again encumbered by cities and regulators that cannot accommodate it. But inventors are offering a solution: a car that flies.
The invention solves a lot of problems: it beats traffic; you don’t need more or bigger roads; cities can be handed back to pedestrians; the cars can run on biofuels. But, just like in the 1860s, there are a number of hurdles to overcome.
The Terrafugia Transition can transform from a two-seater car into a winged light aircraft capable of a cruising speed of 115mph in just 15 seconds. The Massachusetts-based business that created it says you can fly 500 miles on a tank of petrol.
Meanwhile the British offering, the Skycar from Wiltshire-based company Parajet, is (unsurprisingly) simpler and cheaper to produce – it’s a sand buggy with a giant fan and a parachute, but it nevertheless achieves 80mph in the air.
The entrepreneur behind the Skycar, Gilo Cardozo, says it could go on sale for £35,000 and unlike its American equivalent, doesn’t require a pilot’s licence to fly; a day’s tuition and powered parachute certificate are all you need.
But the Skycar, Terrafugia Transition and other prototypes are hamstrung by 20th Century limitations. In America, Alaska is the only state to permit vehicle to take-offs from the road, while landing could cause havoc in built up areas.
In theory the Skycar could fly from a private field or beach, especially given its low take-off speed of 35mph and Ferrari-beating acceleration. But again, where do you land? It makes for a perilous commute.
For flying cars with wings, pilots require a host of licences and forms of insurance before they can travel, and even then can only use designated airports.
On top of all that there’s the obvious problem of shepherding thousands of light aircraft around British skies – no traffic lights see?
Like the car before it, the flying car needs some benevolent tweaking by legislators and city planners before it can make the leap from prototype to run-around.
Time will tell if the world bends to the idea this time around.
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