Y isn't there flying cars?

Question

it would be so cool if there was flying cars.

Answer 1

1. engine. aircraft piston engines are designed to run at near max RPM (around 75%, usually) for extended periods of time. car engines are not. they're designed for running at around 20% of max for most driving (except race cars, of course)

2. stucture. in order to fly effeciently, you'd need to strip tons of weight off of the vehicle. in a car, the heavy frame supports most of weight, with most body panels not contributing little to nothing at all to stuctural support. in a plane, a large amount the structural integrity relies on the skin, in order to save weight and fly more efficiently. you can't have both

3. complexity (for non-pilots). aircraft have many more gauges than cars. they often have CHT and EGT (car has neither), oil pressure and temp (cars usually have temp, sometimes pressure), fuel pressure and temp (cars have neither), manifold pressure (not in cars), and voltmeter/ammeter (cars have voltmeters, typically). now, these would be useful in cars, so we'll keep them all. but combined with speedometer, tachometer, and fuel quantity (aircraft often have at least 2, by the way), you have 12+ gauges already. most cars currenty use 6. and that doesn't include flight instruments like altitude, attitude, vertical speed indicator, compass, glideslope/localizer (often as one unit), turn coordinator, slip indicator, airspeed (measured differently than on a car), and vacuumm pressure. 7 more instruments at least, if you can remove airspeed and combine turn/slip. total of 19 now, or more. and then there's the transponder, ELT, radios, and various navigation equipment. and you need to find room on the body for all those antennae

4. flight controls. planes are big. even smalle ones can be 4 lanes wide, counting the wings. and just as long with the tail. you can either find a way to make other people deal with it, or find room to pack it all into a car. note: i'm disregarding the added weight and complexity of a quick-connect system, as well as multi-piece wings and empennage. for the sake of simplicity. it's also the reason i haven't said anything about the propellor yet (storage, connections, pitch controls if need be)

5. space. there just isn't any. when's the last time you saw any city road smooth, level, clean, and empty enough to take off from or land a plane on?

6. cost. due to FAA regulations stating that parts must conform to very specific standards, and that most maintainence must be performed by trained, certified personnel charging as much as $100 per hour (or more), cost become enormous. let me put it this way. a basic, brand-new cessna 172R (AKA skyhawk) would cost you only $234,500. some options include air conditioning (no, small planes don't normally have it. and it's a steal at $28,100), leather seats ($3,530. what a bargain)

http://skyhawk.cessna.com/

i think it's pretty clear

Answer 2

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw

Answer 3

There already are.  --Invented and flown many decades ago.  --Not practical, not efficient, and not needed.  Those who think flying is cool already fly.

Answer 4

1. Any airplane is a design compromise.

Try to add road capability, and you get a sub par

auto, and a lousy aircraft.

2. The idea of all those idiots on the road turned loose

in the air.........Shudder!

(It would thin out the herd of idiots pretty quick though.)

Answer 5

I've been waiting for it since 1980's.  It ain't happening.  There's one yokel (Moller) who's been saying it is just 5 years away (that was every year for the last 20 years). Back about 7 years ago he showed his prototype - in a test run.  He again said that he is only few years away.  NO WHERE still.  You can find Moller video on you tube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw

The reason is because if cars broke down, you just pull over.  If the flying car broke down (or just ran out of gas) you will be landing in somebody's living room.

===

I used to take flying lessons and it is vastly different from driving a car. Most of the training is about safety and disaster prevention.  Considering this, most drivers are just about driving fast and dangerously.

I can't imagine all the nuts out there flying around - and people landing in our living rooms few times a year.

Good Luck...

Answer 6

Because I would be out of a job.

Answer 7

As a pilot I can honestly tell you that there are not mass produced  flying cars because the average person is too reckless to operate them.

Answer 8

then the phrase " road head" would become meaningless.

Answer 9

to many accidents because we would need a hovering traffic control or controller every mile or kilometere

Answer 10

Not really. First of all, there's airplanes. And, if there are a ton of car wrecks now, think how bad it would be if there were car wrecks in the sky! That would really be horrible!

Answer 11

not enuff research

Answer 12

Airspace is crowed enough as it is..........But with flying cars?