Perry has a good point - Unless you plan on landing at airport B and
driving to airport C for your take-off to return to airport A, what do
you need to drag them around for ? Part of the media misconception
fueling these scams for flying cars is the fact that we can not use
public roads for take off or landing w/o some emergency. That leaves
airports and private land with the owner's prior permission to T & L.
Also part of this misconception is the car must be 4 wheels and 4 seats,
drive 85 mph, fly at 200 mph, get 20 mpg, be as safe as a Volvo. Did I
miss anything ?  LOL !!

I think the next jump in technology for ALL cars (to make them very very
light and thus efficient to make and drive) is to move the primary air
bags to the outside of the car. Using the technology Mercedes did for
auto panic brakes in an impending crash, sensors would deploy the
external air bag when the crash for that side is imminent. Similar to
the Mars probe landing. Think about how much lighter the car can be
without all the structural steel to protect in all these various crash
scenarios ?  I have watched crash tests on prototypes. Lots of energy to
dissipate. Something air bags do well. Such a car could easily be both
safe and light enough for wings :-)

-dave

That is a good idea Dave. I just found an old RX2 brochure that I got
when I bought my new RX2 back in 1973. The weight of the 1973 RX2 two door
car was 2,325 pounds with no aluminum body parts. The 2004 RX8 with the same weight
rotary engine is just over 3000 pounds with aluminum body parts.

What is amazing about this idea is the airbags can be smaller if you can knock
600 pounds out of the weight of the car.

Paul Lamar

My daily driver is an 03' Wrangler Rubicon at just over 3700 # empty. It
has aluminum and plastic parts. ( Dust to Dust report puts it 3rd from the top
for best energy cost) The original Jeep weighted in at 2290 # (Willys
MB) - they were deadly in a crash.

A law firm near Ann Arbor in the early 1980's had quite a bit to do with
the change - their sole purpose was to Sue Jeep over deaths and
injuries. It worked. I have seen the crash tests personally for the
Wrangler and it is one of the safest small vehicles on the road, but at
the cost of all that metal. The New JK is the safest Jeep ever, but is
even wider and heavier and everything to do with traction / brakes is
actively computer controlled - Thanks to the Federal Government mandates
for sloppy driver protection.

-dave

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Willys MB 1941
Wheelbase <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbase>     80 inch / 203 cm
Length     131 inch / 333 cm
Width     62 inch / 157,5 cm
Height     72 inch (183 cm) with top up
reducible to 52 inch (132 cm)
Curb weight <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weight>     2,290 lb (~1020 kg)


2003 TJ Rubicon
Wheelbase <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbase>     93.4 in (2372 mm)
standard
103.4 in (2626 mm) LWB
Length     2000-03: 155.4 in (3947 mm)
Width     1997-2003 68.3 in (1735 mm)
Height     2002-03  70.9 in (1800 mm)

Curb weight <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weight> 3716 lb  Manual trans

2007 JK Rubicon
Wheelbase <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbase>     2-door: 95.4 in
(2423 mm)
Length     2-door: 152.8 in (3880 mm)
Width     2-door: 73.7 in (1872 mm)
Height     70.9 in (1800 mm)

Curb weight <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weight> 4104 lb Manual trans

The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://www.rotaryeng.net
Copyright 1998-2007 All world wide rights reserved.