An American company has designed a fully-functioning flying car. And, on top of this, it's actually available to buy.
Of course, self-styled 'futurologists' have been going on about the flying car since the 1950s. They claimed that it would revolutionise the car and that, by 1972, the sky would be an unending criss-cross of highways and byways.
Unfortunately, the flying car never really took off (if you'll pardon the pun) for three main reasons. Firstly, it would be incredibly expensive to get the infrastructure in place for an air-based road network; secondly, it would be unbelievably dangerous; and thirdly, we already sort-of have flying cars -- they're called aeroplanes and they work just fine.
However, this hasn't stopped a small American company by the name of Terrafugia having a bash at turning the flying car from a pipe-dream into a reality. With support from the US Department of Defense, it has created the Transition, a car which works both on the road and in the sky.
The Transition can make the, ahem, transition from car to aeroplane in twenty seconds, allowing the lucky owner to bypass traffic jams and temporary speed limit restrictions with ease.
The Terrafugia Transition is fitted with a four-cylinder boxer engine which develops 100bhp. This is enough to propel it to a maximum speed of 70mph on the road and 115mph in the air. And the economy figures aren't too bad either: you should manage 35mpg on the ground and 25mpg in the air, giving a range of just under 500 miles.
Of course, there are one or two small problems with the Transition, the first of which is that you need a whacking great runway in order to get it off the ground -- impromptu B-road take-offs are, sadly, out of the question.
The second problem is the price. At $279,000 (£177,000), the Transition is not cheap.
Whether or not the Transition will ever catch on is a matter for debate; however, there is no question at all that, in theory, the flying car has potential.
And for making such an incredibly complicated vision a (sort-of) reality, we have to doff our caps to the boffins at Terrafugia.
Images: Terrafugia
Click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter
