Rise of the Aircars

It’s almost summer, that time of year when millions of vacationers develop whole new vocabularies as they curse the slow-moving RVs behind which they’re stuck.

What they need is a car that can fly, a.k.a. an aircar, a staple of science fiction stories since at least the 1930s, but something that hasn’t gotten off the ground...yet.

Nevertheless, as a recent story in Technology Review points out, new technology may soon make it a reality.

The biggest problem with the aircar dream has always been the fact that ordinary drivers would presumably be at the controls (scary thought). But today’s powerful computers, combined with navigational technologies such as the Global Positioning Satellite system and advanced collision-avoidance systems means it aircars should be able to practically fly themselves--you’d just ride in them, perhaps entering the destination into the onboard computer when you climbed aboard.

An inkling of how that might work is provided by the Small Aircraft Transportation System in the U.S., a joint project between NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. SATS will connect more than 5,000 small airports with “sky highways,” usable by a new generation of small, safe, easy-to-fly and inexpensive airplanes. It’s expected to be fully operational in the middle of next decade. If fully automatic aircars are developed, SATS could eventually be expanded beyond airports, providing “highways” to landing pads all over the place.

There are two visions of aircars. One is that of Roadable Aircraft International (www.roadable.com) of Camarillo, California, whose aircar, The Flyer (named after the Wright Brothers’ first airplane) can not only be flown, but driven like any other car. Two prototypes have already been tested, and a model is being prepared for FAA certification, hopefully by late 2006. Roadable expects to sell the vehicle for between $300,000 and $400,000 U.S.

The other vision of an aircar is that of Dr. Paul Moller (although he prefers the term “volantor” to aircar). He hopes to have his M400 Skycar (www.moller.com) available for sale, also by 2006, for a cool $1 million U.S. (the price could eventually drop to the $60,000 to $80,000 range, he claims). The Skycar is currently undergoing flight testing aimed at getting FAA certification.

The Skycar has four high-speed fans installed in four large nacelles, one on each corner. Each nacelle also contains two specialized rotary engines. The air rushing out of the nacelles can be angled downward to create lift, or toward the rear to create thrust. Large tail fins and a large rear wing, plus the nacelles, make the Skycar look a bit like the Batmobile.

The Skycar should be able to cruise at 480 kilometres per hour at an altitude of nine kilometers, managing 11 kilometres per litre on just about any kind of fuel, from diesel to propane. The Skycar should be able to land safely even after the loss of an engine; and in the event of a catastrophic failure, it will carry two different parachutes, one for low altitudes and one for high. Either parachute should keep the passengers safe in the event of a forced landing; if both are deployed, the car itself should even escape damage. The car will also be equipped with airbags.

The pilot will use two simple hand controls to tell a built-in computer what direction and speed he wants; a computer then does the actual flying, automatically stabilizing the Skycar as it moves from hovering to forward flight, reducing the risk from unexpected wind gusts.

Of course, some people think neither the Skycar nor the Roadable will fly with the public. For one thing, it seems unlikely U.S. aviation officials are going to want a lot of personal aircraft buzzing around built-up areas. That would limit aircar use to airport-to-airport, giving the hybrid Flyer an advantage over the pure-aircar Skycar. However, some critics think you can design a good car or a good automobile, but if you try to combine them, you’ll end up with poor versions of both.

Despite the critics, several companies continue to develop aircars. (Another one is Urban Aeronautics, at www.urbanaero.com). And the concept has some pretty highly qualified boosters, including Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

As he puts it, “I’ve been lecturing on this subject for about a decade and a half, and at the end of every talk, people ask me two main questions: Where can I buy one; and where can I get a franchise to sell them?”