The Moller Skycar is a prototype personal VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft — a "flying car" — called a "volantor" by its inventor Paul Moller, who has been attempting to develop such vehicles for many years. The craft currently under development, the M400, is intended to ultimately transport four people. It is described as a car since it is aimed at being a popular means of transport for anyone who can drive, incorporating automated flight controls. The driver should only input direction and speed, no pilot knowledge being required. Further, developers claim that by using eight inexpensive Wankel rotary engines, its price will eventually fall close to that of a quality car, even if at the moment the price for the first units is expected to be close to USD$1 million. Its proposed features would include 275 mph (442 km/h) cruise speed, 375 mph (603 km/h) maximum speed, eight redundant, low-emission Wankel engines for safety, residential garage size, fuel consumption like a big car, a parachute for the whole machine and road capability for short distances (to be driven to a vertiport). Although current plans call for use of alcohol fuel, cheap, lightweight fuel, such as liquid hydrogen, could be used as an alternative to gasoline, as in the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, although the lower energy density will limit range.The Skycar demonstrated limited tethered flight capability in 2003. More tethered flight tests are now scheduled for an undisclosed date sometime after mid 2006. Moller is currently upgrading the Skycar's engines, and the improved prototype is now called the "M400X". Additional flight tests will supposedly be conducted once Moller engineers have completed the upgrades to the Skycar's nacelles with the larger engines (projected for 2007). /Wikipedia/

http://www.moller.com/skycar/

 

.....a kad dođe do nezgodne situacije znamo kako bi reagovali piloti te obični ljudi......tako da bla bla .....

To je tacno- nema autorotacije ili slicno... a skup do zla Boga. ja volim ovakve skalamocije al ne bi da stavim svoje dete u njega i da krenem na put... pa makar samo obidjem njivu sa kukuruz 

Ovako Moller vidi svoje "čedo":
"Let's compare the M400 Skycar with what's available now, the automobile. Take the most technologically advanced automobile, the Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, Lamborgini, or the more affordable Acura, Accord, or the like. It seems like all of the manufacturers of these cars are touting the new and greatly improved "aerodynamics" of their cars. Those in the aerospace industry have been dealing with aerodynamics from the start. In the auto industry they boast of aerodynamics, performance tuned wide track suspensions, electronic ignition and fuel injection systems, computer controllers, and the list goes on. What good does all this "advanced engineering" do for you when the speed limit is around 60 MPH and you are stuck on crowded freeways anyway?
Can any automobile give you this scenario? From your garage to your destination, the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 275 MPH (maximum speed of 375 MPH) and achieve up to 20 miles per gallon on clean burning, ethanol fuel. No traffic, no red lights, no speeding tickets. Just quiet direct transportation from point A to point B in a fraction of the time. Three dimensional mobility in place of two dimensional immobility.
No matter how you look at it the automobile is only an interim step on our evolutionary path to independence from gravity. That's all it will ever be.
The Skycar performance exceeds that of any light helicopter, including a top speed that is three times faster. When compared to a high-performance airplane, the Skycar has vertical takeoff and landing capability, is safer and potentially less expensive. The performance boundaries of the Skycar are much less restrictive than those of both helicopters and airplanes. These expanded operating limits are the natural consequence of combining VTOL and high-speed cruise in a single aircraft. The resulting flexibility allows many transportation applications to be addressed for the first time."

I jedan pomalo ironičan članak:

"The Skycar is serious, very serious. A milestone in the development of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, says the description on eBay. The trouble is, few of the bidders for the world's first feasible flying car are taking it seriously. "How many 12-inch subs will it fit?" is one of the 101 questions already put to the seller, California-based developer Moller International. "Can it tow my caravan?" asks another. "Does it come with any weapons as standard?"
The bidding stands at just over $2m (£1.2m), which is miraculous for a machine that, its maker admits, can't really fly yet. This is by no means the finished article. Moller is auctioning its prototype to raise money for the next stage in what has been a daunting task: to sell an affordable aircraft that can be kept in the garage.
Moller's dream is to bring the price down to around £30,000, and have a Skycar showroom in every city. The reality is years of testing away - this for a project started in 1983. The model being auctioned was designed solely to hover, pilotless and tethered to a pole. The next prototype will hover and move forward, but there is still a morass of legislation to plough through before you and I will be able to use it to nip over to the Bulgarian holiday cottage.
And then there is public acceptance. The questions on eBay suggest that might be the biggest hurdle of all. The man charged with answering them is Bruce Calkins, Moller's general manager. "They're trying to be funny but the underlying question is 'Is this for real?' I'm trying to demonstrate that we have thought through these processes."
The straight-faced answers he has posted are not only illuminating, they provide rich comedy. "Should I win your auction, I shall flit about in the air, striking fear into the hearts of my enemies, before scorching them to death with my thrusters!" promises one potential bidder. Calkins brings him down to earth. "The downwash air temperature of the M400X prototype is only about four degrees higher than ambient conditions. Hope this doesn't put a crimp in your plans."
Moller has tried to sell the prototype before, once on eBay and once through the legendary Nieman Marcus Christmas catalogue. Judging by the names of the eBay sellers, it's not going well this time either: stupidkid1234, midwestsoccerdad, ipecacandnovocaine. Click on to the current high-bidder's buying past - his last purchase was a sex-enhancing herbal supplement." /Guardian Unlimited/

Mora se priznati da čitava skalamerija podseća na ZORGLOMOBIL, iz Franquinovog stripa, SPIROU ET FANTASIO.