mindenpilot wrote:

OK, you have to humor me on this.
I'm not talking about anything unrealistic (like Moller's skycar, etc).
But what would prevent a design (even low performance/ultra light to start)
that would allow a pilot to fly into an airport, then fold up his wings and
cruise down surface streets at 45mph?



Just for fun, lets explore this idea some more. Obviously weight is the
biggest problem or you could just mount a folding wing, tail feathers
and prop to your Honda. The weight of a transmission to drive the
wheels directly alone would probably add to much weight to be
practical. So you suggested driving it with the prop with some kind of
cage around it. If you are going to put a cage around the prop, you
might as well make it useful. Make it a pusher prop with a ducted fan
instead of a normal simple prop. I think some home builder is working
on a design like that. Second have you ever noticed how amazingly
horrible the ground handling of every airplane I have ever seen is? To
make it road worthy, even if just for non-highway use, you would have to
have a more car like suspension. That of course is going to add a
significant amount of weight to the machine. One of the reasons
airplanes are so unstable on the ground is, by necessity the main wheels
need to be pretty close to the CG. I'm not sure you could get good
ground handling with out moving the main wheels further from the CG.
Tires alone are going add a huge amount of weight, if you try and drive
around on typical airplane tires you are going to be replacing them
every time you turn around. Finally brakes, you are never going to
drive a vehicle like this on the road with out a much better brake
system than most airplanes have, and again that is going to add a lot of
weight. As another poster so rudely put it, no you can't make up for
weight with more horse power. Obviously it can and has been done, but I
doubt you will ever see a flying car that can drive or fly very good at
all.

A much better idea is a flying garage Just get a small car and a
DC-3, and you have the best of both worlds

--
Chris W

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