

Coming soon: Flying car for $279k - deedub
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-03/a-flying-car-for-just-279-000

======
wxl
Yeah, sure.

> Dietrich says, “a pilot of one of our vehicles—once issued a use permit—can
> just drive up, swipe through the gate, taxi, and take off. You don’t even
> have to talk to anyone.”

That's bull. You're gonna have to talk to _someone_. Whether you're at the
smallest airport in the country or not, you're going to need to get on UNICOM
and state your intentions otherwise you're either going to kill yourself or
get a bunch of pilots pissed at you. And if you're at an airport of any size
you have to talk to ground control so you don't get in a crash on the ground
and then get clearance to take off so you don't get in a crash in the air.

~~~
cwmccarthy
If you live in the middle of nowhere you actually could get away from it. I
fly out of a small airport only an hour from Boston and 15 minutes from
Worcester. Not all of the planes/gliders even have radios. Also without a
ground frequency people are walking and driving onto the taxiways as these
please. If you're not flying instrument its up to the pilot to be watching for
who knows what from all directions!! Makes it interesting I suppose...

What I'm curious is how they'll deal with the possibility of a damage to the
craft. If someone opens up a car door into your wing how do you determine if
there's any significant damage to the loading surfaces (especially if there's
composites involved)...how about a tap from the car behind at the stop sign.

------
wdewind
This is a car that transforms into a plane. This is a vastly different
consumer experience, we are still no where near a flying car in the sci fi
sense (a la 5th element).

~~~
weirdcat
Actually it's just a plane that you can drive on roads. A _driving plane_
rather than _flying car_ , if you will.

------
Apocryphon
Between this and Google Glasses, today is a good day for living in the Future.

