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Moller M400 SkyCar Taking Too Long
The Moller M400 SkyCar is not ready yet. Not that I have the necessary $500,000 saved, mind you. And no, I'm not on the waiting list for the FAA approved model (more than one hundred people are).
(The Moller M400 SkyCar hovers)
I just want to know that I can have a skycar as cool as this one. Robert Heinlein used the same word "skycar" in his 1941 novel Methuselah's Children and that's a long time to wait.
Had there been a bystander, he would have been startled to observe what appeared to be a standard Camden rise up off the ground as easily as a skycar.
Moller claims that a fully-functional prototype will be ready in 2012; an FAA-approved version should follow within a couple of years.
...should we all take to the skies, Moller believes the three-dimensions will prevent over-crowding: 'Our view is that you would have layers of air traffic and whenever one altitude became over crowded another would be utilized,' a spokesman said.'If every car on the road today was turned into a Skycar and put into the air using this new system, then each Skycar in the sky would still be over a mile apart in all directions.'
They envision a computer-controlled airway network that would keep all the skycars travelling at the same speed at equal distances from eachother. Engineers are working on pressurising the cabins as the Skycars could travel as high as 30,000ft.
How does the Moller SkyCar work?
Using a principle similar to that of the British Harrier jump jet, the Moller Skycar volantor incorporates a patented thrust deflection vane system that redirects thrust, enabling it to hover or to takeoff and land vertically from almost any surface. This capability plus the added safety of ducted fans makes it ideal for a wide variety of commercial and military applications. These include private and charter air travel, express delivery, news gathering, border patrol, police and fire work, and search and rescue, to name just a few.
From Daily Mail and Moller.com; see a Moller SkyCar video and this gallery of Blade Runner flying car pictures. Thanks to the marvelous Moira for the tip.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/25/2008)
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