Do Flying Cars Really Exist and Can be Purchased?
If you might be in the year 1920, then you would surely believe that till year 2020, the world would be highly developed and will became 'A Dream Come True.' There would be robots, well-maintained ecosystem and environment and one more thing. That is Flying Cars.
credit - Entrepreneur
But till date, when its year 2022, it still seems to be a dream.
Right?
But not for so long because a trial on flying cars have gone successful in Slovakia. A company in Slovakia had completed this trial of flying cars without any difficulties.
The dream of seeing a flying car in the sky isn't a dream now but became a reality and in coming years, it is expected that this reality will come into force.
credit - The Internet Stud
Today, Let us discuss about the working and mechanism of flying cars.
History of Flying Cars
You might think that flying car is a futuristic thing which will be developed in a couple of years from now. But the practice of making a flying car started 100 years ago only.
1. In 1917, the first flying car was tried to made. The main motive of this trial was to make a aeroplane which can run on a road and hence it was given the name Autoplane.
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It was built by Glenn Curtiss and the car was given the name Limousine of the Year.
Now regarding its first flight, though it rise a little bit from the ground but couldn't fly properly. Hence its trial was a failure.
2. Now let us come to year 1933 when US Air Commerce Bureau conducted a Flivver Competition. They challenged the people to make a model within $700.
Many models were made and nominated. Out of them was a model named Aerobile made by Waldo Waterman. It was even successful in its trial and was able to fly properly but due to Great Economic Depression at that time, it couldn't get funds and hence couldn't be sent for production.
credit - Web Urbanist
3. A successful attempt took place when in year 1945, when American Inventor Robert Edison Fulton built an aeroplane named Airphibian.
It could even be detached into car and can be reattach back to aeroplane. It even got the flight certificate to be operate.
credit - Alchetron
But the first problem was regarding its design as it neither became a good aeroplane nor it looked like a car. It had a weird design. Another problem is the economic problem due to World War II in 1945.
4. Another aeroplane named Convaircar was invented by Industrial Designer Henry Dreyfuss in 1947.
credit - Wikipedia
It too had a weird look as it seems that the car is stick to the aeroplane. It was a great idea until it crashed in its 3rd trial due to its pilot mistake. This crash lose confidence among people and investors stood back.
5. Another person Morton Taylor worked on the design of Airphibian and decided to make foldable wings of the plane.
credit - AOPA
Its trial was held successfully in 1949 and was called Taylor's Aerocar. He got the certificate as well as the approval of mass production. But there was one problem that it required at least 500 advanced orders to being in force for mass production. As there was less interest among people, so it also proved to be a failure.
Flying Car in 21st Century
The Technological Advancement in the year of 1950's wasn't too developed. But now in this era, the technology has highly modernized and developed. So is there any chance of the invention of a successful flying car?
Let's Find Out.
In October 2021, a Swedish company Jetson Aero introduced their Jetson 1 model in front of the world. It didn't looked like a car but like a large drone.
credit - Medialist
It is a single seated vehicle which is controlled by the pilot itself. It is made up of Aluminium to make it light. As a result, it is just 86 kg in weight and can carry a person till 96 kg.
The advantage in this model is that it doesn't require any pilot license because according to US Air Laws, you don't need a license for a home-made single seated aircraft. The company doesn't offer you a fully made structure, but only 50% assembled and rest is made by you at your home which allows it to follow US Air Laws.
credit - Core77
The chairman of this company said that this project is only for a fun activity and not be used as a commercial product. As a result, this project can't be termed as a flying car.
Now let us recall what I mentioned in the beginning of the article. I talked about the company in Slovakia.
The flying car of this company got the clearance from Transport Authority of Slovakia and also received the certificate of Airworthiness. This car is also obeying all the measures of the European Aviation Safety Agency.
credit - The Times of Israel
This is the first flying car which isn't attached to any kind of aeroplane. It is wings just as a plane which encloses within this car. A BMW car has been used in it and it doesn't require any special fuel. It can run on the petrol and a maximum of 2 people can sit in this car.
It only takes 3 minutes to transform from a car to an aeroplane and looks like a normal car only when driving on the road. It do require a license. It has even done 200+ successful trials.
credit - PC Perspective
Now let us talk about its cost. It is estimated to cost between $550,000 to $1.1 million. It will be available by the end of this year 2022.
The aim of AirCar's company, Klein Vision, is to replace the use of helicopters in the coming future.
Now let us discuss the pros and cons of flying cars.
Pros of Flying Cars
You might think that what is the need or importance of making a flying car.
Following are its major reasons:
1. It can be used for emergency services. They can be used as ambulances, fire engines or can be use by police.
credit - Jehangir Hospital
2. They are much easier to operate as compared to helicopters.
credit - Science | HowStuffWorks
3. They do not require any other transport set up. Like railways need set up of rail, vehicles need roads for set up.
credit - The Economic Times
4. They are quite flexible. They can be landed and take off from any place easily.
credit - Euronews
5. It is good for environment also as it will take less time to travel and hence less fuel to consume as compared to the normal cars.
Cons of Flying Cars
You might don't agree but there are more disadvantages of flying cars than its advantages.
These are as follows:
1. You know that there are thousands of road accidents occurring everyday. So if people can't learn to drive properly on the roads, so there are very high chances that there will be more accidents in air.
credit - The Indian Express
2. If your car gets defect in your way, then you can stop aside and repair it. But this is not in the case of flying cars as you can't really stop anywhere in the air to repair it.
credit - Collegeville Auto Repair
3. As flying cars are not so big, so they are more dangerous during bad weather.
credit - Dreamstime
4. As there would be thousands of cars in the sky, so there should be proper rules and regulations such as traffic lights and a communicating facility to prevent collision.
credit - INTERNeX New Zealand
5. Using of flying cars causes a lot of noise pollution. You might already know that even a small drone causes a lot of noise, so a flying car can cause a lot of noise.
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6. A flying car can fly up to 50 km only in one time charge. Then it requires to be refill which requires a lot of time.
Final Words
Even after all these problems of a flying car gets resolved but its cost is still a big issue. A normal AirCar is costing to around $1 million, which is not a normal amount for everyone to afford.
credit - Compare
If the price of the flying cars remains the same, then it won't be successful.
Any new technology invented isn't successful until it is available in an affordable and reasonable price.
credit - Institute of Entrepreneurship Development
So that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed it and found it helpful as usual.
Don't forget to share it with your friends to tell them about the invention of flying cars.
Thanks for Reading!
