| Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 UGN Supporter | UGN Supporter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 | Well the idea that everybody will have a personal air transportation craft, that will be as easy to use as a car, seems like science fiction. On the contrary, a consortium to make this into reality already exists, with many serious participations in it. It is called Southeast SATSLab,it is funded by NASA and it has members from economic and academic areas. Recently a company that has made significant progress, entered this consortium.This company has a ready experimental prototype called "Skycar". It is a 4-seat vertical takeoff/landing craft,with rotating trusters like a Harrier.Some specs:8 rotary (Wankel) engines,top speed 350MPH,burns common gasoline,range:900Miles.It has satellite navigation,flight computers and even emergency parachutes. http://www.moller.com/news/pressrelease/satslab.html | | |
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| | | Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 15 Junior Member | Junior Member Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 15 | There's never going to be flying cars well not that lot's of people will fly around because we just don't have the fuel. Until we start using some other resource like hydrogen we don't have a chance. Maybe a couple of millionaires might fly them but the average person won't have them.
Computer games do not affect kids, i mean, if Pacman affected us, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, eating magic pills, and listening to repetitive electronic music...
| | | | Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 129 Member | Member Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 129 | i think so too that the average ppl won't afford it but we can allways glue some wings on our cars=)
*ZmaJL*
| | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 UGN Supporter | UGN Supporter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 | UnderGroundNews.com/ubb/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="[Linked Image]" class="post-image" style="height:auto!important;max-width:100%!important;"/> You both obviously don't read the news much. Toyota was featured in a news story a few months back about their proto type fr a flying car. They were testing it sucessfully in some desert. Estimated sales price was $50,000. A Corvet costs more. Now you say yea but look how many people have corvets.. How about how many people have $50,000 cars. | | | | Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 15 Junior Member | Junior Member Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 15 | I didn't say the car would be expensive I said it would be too expensive to fly it round.
Computer games do not affect kids, i mean, if Pacman affected us, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, eating magic pills, and listening to repetitive electronic music...
| | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 574 Likes: 1 UGN GFX Whore | UGN GFX Whore Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 574 Likes: 1 | I am pretty sure they will use another form of fuel before it becomes common. I think that building ones that work with fuels we have now will get people interested, and make them realize it is possible. If they see a car flying, they will think, yeah, let's get in on that. Once they find a better form of fuel these things will definately "take off," pun definately intended. "In limited production (500 units per year) the M400 Skycar will sell for a price comparable to that of a four-passenger high performance helicopter or airplane, approximately $500,000. As the volume of production increases substantially, its price can approach that of a quality automobile ($60,000-$80,000)." Also, I just realized this would mean an all new kind of license, unless you would only need both a driver's and pilot's license. pulling over will be strange in the future. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | /me has both a driver's license and a pilot's license. :x
I don't see it happening... Flying is something that takes quite a bit of skill, and frankly, most people are morons. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 UGN Supporter | UGN Supporter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 | Pfffft, Computerised altimiter and GPS navigation. It is possible that it could drive itself actualy. Imagine GPS accident prevention. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | Computerized altimeters and GPS Navigation are already here. We even use both of these things in the aircraft on a daily basis (look up the Garmin GNS 430). However, GPS accident prevention is very far off. GPS systems are not accurate to within feet, they are accurate to within yards. Also, GPS systems tend to lag, since information must be received by at least three satellites, and then sent to the unit in the vehicle. This lag time is not very substantial when used in a navigational device (upwards of 3 seconds), but when it comes to accident prevention, 3 seconds may mean quite a difference.
Many high-end aircraft nowadays have a system called TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System). Other aircraft are displayed on a screen relative to your aircraft, with altitude and direction information displayed as well. In the event of a traffic conflict (one aircraft coming dangerously close to another), an alarm will sound. Also, taking the Boeing 747-400 as an example, a message will appear on a screen in front of the pilots giving a recommendation on what to do to resolve the conflict. Examples of these recommendations: Climbing left turn, descending right turn, etc. Keep in mind that the aircraft will not avoid conflicting traffic by itself, however, the technology is there. | | | | Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 Community Owner | Community Owner Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 | lol, watch, you run out of gas, you're 200' in the air in a "sky car"... First thing on your mind "oh [censored] me" ktnx... | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 UGN Member | UGN Member Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 | I've been around planes my whole life because my dad is a pilot, but a lot of people haven't, and they're scared of flying. You'd be suprised at how many people would rather drive then fly because they think driving is safer(which it isn't). My guess is that people wouldn't buy flying cars just because of fear of flying/heights.
The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him. -Socrates
| | | | Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 Community Owner | Community Owner Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 | I'd buy 4! only i'd wigger a hanglider to the lol... | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 UGN Member | UGN Member Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 | lol. imagine the wingspan u'd need for a hanglider to support a car. that'd be great
The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him. -Socrates
| | | | Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 Community Owner | Community Owner Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 | none out of the ordinary. you can pull one from a boat, only differance would be you'd be driving in the air as opposed to the water. | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 UGN Member | UGN Member Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 | oh, i thought u meant a hangglider so that you could glide the car itself to the ground if it ran out of gas.
The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him. -Socrates
| | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | Oh my ph34r! This photo was taken by me this morning...and yes, it is stopped. This is why people like to drive. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 UGN Supporter | UGN Supporter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 562 | Was this an Auto Rotate test? I know Helicopter piolets need to learn how to auto rotate. Just wondering. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | Nope. Since I'm working on getting my multi-engine rating, we were doing engine-out work. Generally this is simulated by keeping one throttle at idle and the other at full power. Once in a while though, we'll actually feather (stop) a prop to make things a tad more realistic. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 DollarDNS Owner | DollarDNS Owner Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 | Drake, you said something that I wanna comment on. You and a lot of the educated populace say that flying is safer than driving. You guy point out statistics about how there's more deaths and accidents involved in car wrecks than in plane wrecks.
However, what I say to that is, there's a heck of a lot more people driving around than flying around. So naturally there'll be more car wrecks than plane wrecks. However, that doesn't mean the RATIO is greater with cars. Cars may be considered safer cause the ratio between number of cars, and number or wrecks would be fewer, then the ratio between number of plane flights and number of plane wrecks.
In case I was confusing, here's an example:
Number of cars = 1000 Number of wrecks = 100
Number of planes = 100 Number of wrecks = 20
Now see, there's 100 car wrecks and 20 plane wrecks a year. planes are safer? no, cause you've got a 10% chance of getting in a car wreck, and 20% chance of getting in a plane wreck. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | One thing a lot of people don't realize is that flying is inherently dangerous. This is why pilots must go through very rigorous training in order to be licensed by the FAA. | | | | Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 Community Owner | Community Owner Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 7,203 Likes: 11 | you go throught too much work to crash into my house . | | | | Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 Member | Member Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 | but also one of the reasons people like to drive as opposed to fly is because they like to be in control of the vehicle so if they had the opportunity to own their own aricraft they might go for it, but as far as people being afraid to fly if a car crashes in some cases you have a chance to survive but when you fall from 20,000 feet.. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 DollarDNS Owner | DollarDNS Owner Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 | yeah, that brought up another point I had in retort to people saying it's safer to fly than drive. Fatality in plane wrecks are greater than fatality in car crashes. Ratio-wise anyway. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | I blame the media for this. If you look at the NTSB reports, the overwhelming majority of aircraft accidents are not fatal. The ones that you hear about, however, are the awful airline accidents. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 DollarDNS Owner | DollarDNS Owner Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 | I'm not talking about aircraft accidents. Bad landings, lost a wheel in landing etcetera. Just like I'm not talking about fender benders in cars that wouldn't have a chance at hurting anybody.
But if a passenger jet plummets to the ground, I mean comon... Sure it's rare - even ratio-wise - but the fatality in those babies...
bah, I'm not 100% convinced of my argument on this point. I shouldn't have said anything. I'll stick to the accidents ratio and leave fatality out unless I have more facts. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Table1.htm This is a chart summarizing the number of fatal and nonfatal accidents that have occured in aviation during the year 2001. Taking a look at the chart at major airline statistics (noted as 14 CFR 121), the numbers come out to show that there were 0.013 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours. Now take into account the fact that there were 15,998,000 hours flown in that year. Chances are higher that you'd be hit by lightning while getting out of your car at the airport than dying on an airliner. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 DollarDNS Owner | DollarDNS Owner Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,273 | "Chances are higher that you'd be hit by lightning while getting out of your car at the airport than dying on an airliner"
for some reason I don't agree with that. How many people have died getting out of their car and being struck by lightning while at an airport during the year 2001.
screw 2001. I don't think anybody ever has.
While there has been plenty of people killed on airliners.
If ya argue, at least argue convincingly. And as far as ratio. I bet there's a heck of a lot more driving hours than flight hours in the year of 2001. So the number of car wrecks/fatalities - etcetera would of course be greater. It is still debateable as to which side would have the greater ratio of wrecks/fatalities. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | Without statistics for driving hours, I don't think I can argue this convincingly, nor can you. My point was that airline travel is very safe. You did, however, catch my hyperbole with lightning strikes. I really don't know the statistics on that; I was merely exaggerating. I thought you of all people would catch on. Another consideration that you must take into account is that pilots are much more highly skilled in their field compared to the average driver on a highway. Personally, I spent a solid 6 months of very hard work earning my pilot's license, and that was to merely fly small aircraft. Also, maintenance of aircraft is strictly regulated. For most operations (including airline), each aircraft must be thoroughly inspected every 100 hours of flight time, and pass a very strict annual inspection. Also, any time a pilot notices a discrepency, the aircraft is taken off of the line and fixed. As a pilot, I know from first-hand experience how safe flying is. I'm comfortable up there...it's a mad house down here. | | | | Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 Member | Member Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 | well couldnt all that hard work and training also be used against flying cars, now flying may be safe, but it takes a skilled pilot and well checked maintance...and just like you said the average highway driver isnt as skilled at what they are doing, so wouldnt an aircraft for everyone just be plain dangerous?
(kinda trying to get back on the topic of flying cars here) | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 UGN Elite | UGN Elite Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 | When cars first came about, it was belived that if you went over 30 mph the skin on your face would rip off.
When 30 mph was broken many belived women lacked the attention span to drive.
Many people never belived humans would fly
It's like this people, people will adapt. people can learn. There would have to be a whole new set of guidelines and licensing procedure, but if flying cars came out (scary as it may be) people would buy them and learn to fly them.
Look at how advance scociety has become in the last century. We went from just starting to use electricity, and motors to the fast paced scociety we have today. Now the reason this is impresive is look at technology evolution in the centuries before that.
This will speed up, people will adapt, we will see some awsome things in our life time.
1802 till 2002, think about it. When looking at that, do you realy find it so hard to belive? Look at what the average person did in 1802. the average home didn't even have power or running water. Many still went to the well and out house. Car... ha ha ha ha.
Now look at us. Look at what your parents had and did when they were kids, then look at yourself. As technology advances, it will do so quicker than before, and people will step up and meet the challenge. I would not be surprised to see flying cars replace cars of today.
As far as fule,
The U.S. army uses a speacial brand of desile for their aircraft called JP8. There is much that could be done to use the same fule we use now, hell 100 octane is pretty powerful. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 815 nobody | nobody Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 815 | It's all about the hydrogen fuel cells, as far as fuel. | | | | Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 624 UGN GFX Whore | UGN GFX Whore Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 624 | so are there also gonna be gass stations in the sky ? lol
+^Born Intelligence | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | Actually, that brings up a good point. If a person runs out of gas in a car, they pull over. Run out of gas in the air? You're coming down whether you like it or not. Pilots are trained to configure the aircraft for maximum glide, choose a landing spot, and successfully execute a dead stick landing. But what about your average person? | | | | Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 624 UGN GFX Whore | UGN GFX Whore Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 624 | yeah right.. and unreal i wanna ask you something since i know you're pretty good in these things..
is it possiable for an air plane to run out of gas (or whatever it uses) in the air ?? what would happend ?
and a question i wanted to know long time ago..
They say that for example, if the plane would damage or something well dunno.. but lets say that the pilot has jumped from the plane you know... to survive, then people say that pilots have some kinda food with them that helps with to stay alive for weeks and that's not normal food, it's something different.. like pills and so on.. you know what i'm talking about ?
i know it sounds stupid but i just wanna know..
+^Born Intelligence | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 UGN Elite | UGN Elite Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 | Pretty simple realy, Don't run out of fule, it might kill you. Gas stations send a becon signal that cars pick up. Might be also that flying cars are limited to a certain altitude that would not end fataly. Maybe say 10 to 50 feet in the air.
Gas stations get in with onstar or some crap like that. It can all be worked out I assure you. We never used to drive. We never used to fly. We will continue to advance even if some of you do not want to. If not a flying car today, then maybe next year, or the decade after. But you can count on it comeing. With every major invention there will be new laws, rules and much infastructure needed to support it.
Think it not possible? in the early 80's there was no internet, no UGN. It was Arpanet, you dialed in to collage servers. Think of everything that supports the net. That happened in about 1 decade. Less actualy. say 1985 to 1995.
Look at cars in general. somewhere in the early 1800's I think they were born. The Modle "T".
There were no roads like there are today. Assphault, gas station, rest stop, fast food, shoulder of the road, traffic light, road signs, driver license, license plate, head lights, auto shops, factories, parts shops, car wash, onstar, computers, T.V.'s in the seat, and on and on and on.
IF these cars are built to hover that leaves much flexibility as far as fuleing options. Millitary fules in flight all the time. | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | bp: Absolutely it's possible for an aircraft to run out of gas. Some airplanes are able to glide very well, others not so well. As I said, in the case of fuel exhaustion, we're taught to configure the airplane for maximum glide distance, and pick a spot to do an off-airport landing. Contrary to popular belief, most airplanes glide quite well. The aircraft that I initially earned my pilot's license in (a Cessna 172), when configured for glide properly, maintained about a 500 foot-per-minute descent. If you were flying at 10,000 feet over land that was at sea level, you'd have 20 whole minutes to decide what you're going to do. That airplane had a very good glide ratio. The aircraft I'm flying right now, a PA-44 Seminole (twin engine), has those big ol' engines on the wings that cause a lot of drag if they're both dead. That thing doesn't glide so well if they both die. Almost forgot... most airplanes you see flying (propeller driven, piston airplanes) run off of 100 Octane leaded fuel. Jets use Jet-A, which is a form of Kerosene. And your question on food for survival. We have survival kits in the back of the plane in case of an emergency. Basically it's just food, water, flashlight, matches, etc. I'm not sure about those pills...maybe that's a military thing. | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 UGN Elite | UGN Elite Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,255 Likes: 3 | Nah we gave our guys MRE's (Meal Ready to eat). A meal packed with extra vitamins, calaries and so one. All soldiers eat them in field enviroment. 1 can give you a healthy diet for 3 days. So grab 5 and you are pretty good.
I used to ride on CH-47 helicopters in the Army. They don't glide at all. That is the one that looks like a school bus in the sky with 2 sets of blades on the top. Had a couple close calls in Nicaragua during a huricane relief mission. But I'm here to tell about it. | | | | Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 Member | Member Joined: May 2002 Posts: 189 | anyone else look at the pics of the flying car...didnt look like much of a glider to me http://www.moller.com/skycar/ | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 Der �belt�ter | Der �belt�ter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 860 Likes: 1 | 4 engines? Hah...I'd like to see a normal person use that successfully.
Think about what happens if you were to lose a single engine. The yawing and rolling tendency into the dead engine would throw this thing out of control. Airplanes have rudders and ailerons that have the leverage to counteract this loss of control tendency. The stubby wings that are on this "sky car" wouldn't do a thing in the event of an engine failure. | | | | Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 UGN Member | UGN Member Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 129 | I wonder what the price would be for that thing. It says a $5,000 deposit. How long have you been flying for unreal?
The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him. -Socrates
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