Yet more fodder for unique scratchbuilding projects.

The idea was revived in the 1980's. The idea was to make a "flying car" powered by a multitude of ducted fans. The unique selling proposition ("USP") was that this time around the engines would be controlled by the new-fangled "microprocessor". This would give the vehicle such forgiving handling qualities that even an unqualified pilot could drive it. Never heard of it again. Maybe someone has a weblink?

(kim)

Oh, yes...and the idea goes clean back to the mid 1960's, and has been "ready to go this very year" ever since:

Thanks. The XM-4 most resembles the specific project I heard about.

(kim)

MythBusters tried to build a flying car last season.

Craig

On Sep 4, 11:26 pm, Pat Flannery wrote: ck to the mid 1960's, and has been

Rats; they had diecasts, but are sold out.

Offhand, wouldn't this have the same problem as the rocket propelled back pack, only worse; i.e., to get enough momentum to lift this mass with a reasonable volume of exhaust, it would have to come out at a dangerously high temperature to get enough velocity?

Found two different ones, one Moller 400 in about 1:32 or 1:24 scale (don't know how big the "car" is, the toy is about 5" long. The other is a Hot Wheels type that looks like it was developed from the 400 to carry maybe four passengers (instead of two) and looks to be about

That "multiple nested cone" jet system showed up on a lot of aircraft designs from that period. It's supposed to work something like a car's carburetor, using the Venturi Effect to draw air and fuel into the combustion chamber. I don't know if it would really work, but it has great "Flash Gordon" looks about it. The one design that at least might have been built that had a strange jet engine was the FW-190TL, which looked like a great way to poison the pilot with carbon monoxide:

That's about right for the one I had; mine was in dark green metal flake finish. Cockpit detail wasn't bad, but it was still a toy, not a model.

Pat

In the first place the car on the web page DID have an engine, in spite of the article title.

Now to comments about the Moller flying "car" and other similar designs. It needs fly-by-wire because it is either aerodynamically unstable or marginally stable. Now, on a mult--million dollar vehicle the computer system can be made reliable enough. But the costs of doing so will far exceed what the private market can afford. When one looks at the price of even the cheapest private aircraft today, I certainly could not, and I doubt most of you on this group, could ever afford a vehicle with the multiple redundancy and certified software needed to make these things safe. I spent my career in advanced avionics R&D. I wouldn't buy one of these. If it was cheap enough for me to afford, it wouldn't be safe.

Also, many multi-engined aircraft have been brought down because of a fault in the fuel system. All engines stop when that happens, and a car with only powered lift falls like a rock, computer or not :-(

The Moller one is supposed to have a parachute it releases in case that happens.

Pat

Which will be ~really~ great if you're at about two hundred fett altitude and zipping along at 75mph......

It might use a rapid deploy system of some sort. Anyway this silly gizmo has been "months away" from being ready for sale for around twenty-five years now, and the whole thing has become more a continuing source of humor than a real flying car concept. But it is very good for making money fly from unwary investor's pockets:

It showed up on the local news last night. I believe the price quoted was around $90,000 each. That was spooky timing. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

It shows up on the news every couple of years; always "almost ready to go."

Pat

Was the that same round one, or the newer red one with the 4 jet engines (2 on each side of the regular aircraft type body) that rotate like the Harrier?

on 9/8/2007 9:56 AM willshak said the following:

This is the one I meant

pockets:

Maybe even longer, I seem to recall seeing his aircraft listed in a

and the 600 mpg carbereutor car.