Reference Auto

Traffic jams are going to be a thing of the past with US firm Terrafugia Transition soon contemplating manufacturing flying cars christened Transition Roadable Light Sport Aircraft, which can turn into a plane from a car in an astounding 30 seconds!

Terrafugia is putting production in the fast lane and promises that the flying car could be available as early as next year for nearly pound 150,000. But such revolutionary technology is likely to take sometime to be fine-tuned (may be a decade) and the machines could hit the roads (or the sky in this case) only after a few bumps.

While flying, the Transition’s speed will be 115 mph, and on the road, it can reach a maximum speed of 65 mph.

On road, the wings will remain unfolded and the machine can fit in an average-sized garage. The Transition can tank up in a normal petrol station. With a full tank, the Transition will be able to fly for nearly 500 miles.

Terrafugia has lined up some ambitious plans, saying that 200 such cars (or planes) will be produced in a year. The aeroplane-cum-car has been successfully test flown about 28 times. The company says that the pilots, who flew the plane, have found it remarkable.

While flying under inclement weather conditions, the pilot can just land the plane at the nearest airport, turn it into a car and drive on to reach his destination.

In India too, a flying machine on a Maruti 800 car is going to be tried at the Aero India Show in Bangalore in the next few days. Not that the flying machine has anything to do with Maruti Suzuki.

A go-ahead by the defence ministry has been given for the ‘Maruti 800 flying machine’ to take a shot at flying alongside the latest fighter aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16s and the F/A-18s.

So far as the Transition goes, will it actually hit the roads say, within a couple of years? And, if the price actually stays at pound 150,000, then we could see the super rich flock for this car. So, are we likely to witness cars zipping past each other just like in science fiction films?

In fact, it could take a while for governments to put in place a system to monitor the movement of these car-cum-planes. Only after a system is put in place will these flying machines be allowed to move around freely.

It could be possible that the US government (for now) may take time to give a go-ahead to these planes or even ban them for a while, as these machines, which can turn from a plane to a car in 30 seconds, could be put to wrong use and used as a weapon of terror to crash on high security zones.