For more than five decades, science fiction has been tormenting us with hallucination of in-the-air roadways and hastily choreographing sports car-like flying cars. A number of businesses have been hunting the reverie for such a long time.
NASA’s PAV (Personal Air Vehicle) Challenge could do a great job to chase the wild dream. To kindle rapid modernism and advancement in PAV performance, NASA has funded $2,000,000 in cash prizes for the PAV flight competition.
Here is a list of some of the flying cars, including some vehicles that have taken a voyage in the air while some are waiting to do the same in the near future.
#1. Mad Ludwig’s flying car
Unfortunately, this ingenious man King Ludwig II of Bavaria was declared insane 10 June, 1886 and was deposed. And now, after around 120 years after his death, scientists are saying that he was a one of the pioneers of flight. Now, aeronautical specialists have found hiss drawings of the flying peacock car out and re-established them on computer.
#2. Aerocar International’s Aerocar
Dubbed the Taylor Aerocar, the American roadable aircraft was built in 1949 by Moulton Taylor. The Aerocar III, which was the final model built by Taylor was colored red had had silver wings.
#3. PAL-V: Personal Air and Land Vehicle
PAL-V Europe BV aims to build everybody’s dream in mobility, a full-fledged flying and full-fledged driving vehicle. Excerpt from the company’s page:
Steer it like a car and it banks like a motorcycle. It sounds deceivingly simple. And it truly is. At the heart of the PAL-V lies the Dynamic Vehicle Control (DVC™) system which automatically adjusts the tilt angle of the cockpit to the speed and acceleration of the vehicle enabling a plane-like ’tilting before cornering’.
#4. Moller M200X flying car
The M200X was invented by Moller back in the year 1989, which has now been taken to the air 200 times and can go as high as 50 feet.
#5. Skycar M400: Moller’s latest design
The dream flying machine is one of its kind personal vertical take off and landing (VTOL) vehicle that can cruise at a maximum speed of 375 MPH at 13,200 ft.
The asking price of a Skycar is estimated to be about $1 million, but we can hope it to get as low as $60,000 when it will be mass produced.
#6. Macro SkyRider X2R
How about going 200 miles in a mere 45 minutes? The enthralling new aero car SkyRider X2R developed by Macro industries can do the same.
The unique vehicle is said to be available in five years after receiving investment funding. They say that it could cost somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million per unit.
#7. Urban X-Hawk: The Revolutionary, Modular, VTOL Aircraft
From the company: X-Hawk is a ‘rotorless’ Vertical-Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. To be more precise, it is an aircraft that has the VTOL capability of a helicopter.
X-Hawk, in its air ambulance configuration offers a revolutionary capacity for emergency rescue teams to reach their destination quickly, in spite of practical obstacles or complex landscapes.
#8. Terrafugia Transition
The Terrafugia’s road-able aircraft Transition, priced supposedly at $148,000, comes with foldable wings and can fly and drive on road with perfection. It is expected to be ready for production by 2009 with a working prototype available in 2008.
#9. LaBiche Aerospace FSC-1TM
The LaBiche Aerospace FSC-1TM is a real treat for those who want to soar high in the sky with its sleek folding design and hair-raising speeds. The wings and rear propeller automatically vanish inside the car while you are busy setting the street on fire. The LaBiche flies at a mind-blowing speed of 275 mph. All do-it-yourself freaks would love to grab the build-it-yourself kit that costs $175,000.
#10. MIT student’s roadable aircraft
Carl Dietrich, a MIT aeronautical-engineering student shows a new spin on the concept of flying cars and has christened his tempting vehicle ‘roadable aircraft.’ He hopes to make this concept meet realism by 2010 and the price tag attached to it will be about $150,000.
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