Flying car from AirCar

Extendable tail holders, folded wings. But what if the wingtip in the parking lot is damaged? Competing Terrafugia has been flying since 2009, yet none of them could be handed over. Ever since cars and planes have existed, humanity has been trying to marry the two, which has long and now proved to be a difficult task, but engineers apparently don’t give up. It was a memorable moment, for example, when the first Aeromobil 2.5 made here in the air at Nitra Airport, designed for a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour on the ground and 160 kilometers on the ground, was born by Stefan Klein, professor of engineering and designer and former designer of large German car factories. An earlier version of the pretty machine was also unveiled at the Top Marques car show in Monaco, but later the structure crashed, with designer-flying Klein surviving the crash with the parachute rescue system.

The current new design, which first took off in October as a product of KleinVision, is visibly more thoughtful than the previous one. The prototype of the AirCar is two-seater, but the company is preparing a three-passenger, as well as an even larger twin-engine and amphibious version alongside the pilot. There was news from Aeromobil that there was a problem with its stability in the air, and falling into a traffic jam and falling was also likely.

In line with previous Klein constructions, the engine was placed behind the cockpit / passenger compartment. One of the innovations of AirCar is the double tail holder with double vertical guide plane. The pusher propeller does not work at the very end of the machine, but between the tail holders (Skymaster style). But, which is also important: the tail holders can be extended longer with the guide planes before flight, which, contrary to some news, is not necessary to have more space in the fuselage for different structures, but to have adequate machine length stability. The sure advantage is that with a retracted tail, the length of a car is no more than five meters. The wings are also retracted and placed next to the fuselage in a different way, while the front of the wings also bends to the rear. Half of the string length shows a very serious mechanization surface, obviously this compensates for the limited span in slow flight. The trunk also produces buoyancy due to its design, the application of composites makes the structure easier. Unfortunately, detailed parameters are not yet available on the manufacturer’s website. All you need to know is that they want to reach a range of around 965 kilometers with 150 knots, the prototype is fitted with a 1.6 BMW engine, series production is planned with a 300-horsepower ADEPT Airmotive V-6 engine.

The pilot who arrives at the airport by car converts the car into an airplane at the touch of a button, locks the wings and pushes out the tail section. The process is computer-controlled automatically and, according to some statements, takes two minutes, according to other sources. Well, it’s true that in car-plane advertisements, this happens by the owner rolling into the airport, not getting out, just waiting for the goods to turn into an airplane and run into them.

In reality, however, experts warn, the story can’t be that simple: the plane needs to be thoroughly inspected before flying, the usual detour needs to be taken even more seriously. Just keep in mind that if you can’t pinpoint the setting exactly in a parking lot or garage, one of the wingtips, for example, can be damaged. (You can’t see a mirror on the outside of the machine, they may solve it with cameras.) Not to mention such exciting details as switching under the nose to car mode, opening a spoiler that produces a clamp on the asphalt, but if it’s due to something wrong remains, it seriously degrades the parameters in flying mode. An older sanctity emerged among the online reactions: “Flying cars and cars that act as cars are always bad cars and bad planes.” Professor Klein obviously wants to refute this with his construction, as there have been many serious attempts in recent years to come up with a usable combination. Understandable entanglement, light and solid composite, the use of computers, lighter and more reliable drive mechanisms, lighter and more powerful multi-fuel engines allow designers to try more modern designs that no longer have to be behind them as trailers. pull the folded wing and tail like the Taylorcraft Aerocar of the fifties.

Terrafugia in the US got the longest, a prototype of the Bostonians flew for the first time in 2009, and it already has a type license from the road authority. But due to aviation regulatory approvals and other complications, the company, founded in 2006, has so far not been able to hand over a single copy to customers who have previously deposited a ten-thousand-dollar deposit.