Jalopnik
Gino d'Ignazio Gizio has a dream. A dream where the average person has access to his or her own flying car. A dream where long commutes are a thing of the past and people take to the skies at 350mph with the freedom and ease we currently enjoy in our land-based cars (as long as we don't live someplace where there's, you know, traffic). Gino wants his Cell Craft to facilitate that dream. The problem, he hasn't quite figured out how it works yet.
The Italian helicopter pilot and self-styled futurist wants his Cell Craft to be capable of vertical take off and landings, as well as hovering. He knows this can be achieved through a vectored thrust system, similar to that used by the Harrier jump jet, but he hasn't quite cracked the engineering code on how to make it controllable. He knows he wants to make all the Craft's functions operable through a single joystick, but he doesn't know how to do that yet, either. And he knows he wants it to be both light and safe, but doesn't yet know which materials to use.
We, too, share Gino's dream of high-speed flight and of course hovering for the masses. We just think it's a bit farther off than he does.
Comments
"We, too, share Gino's dream of high-speed flight and of course hovering for the masses. We just think it's a bit farther off than he does."
That's what skeptics said about time travel and matter transporters. Look at us now!
As Jean Luc Picard would say, "Make it so!"
Will the unidentified aircraft flying approximately 1,500 feet above The H-1 freeway please call Honolulu Approach Control on 123.1? You have violateed the Class B airspace, and are crossing the approach corridor for Runway 8L, approaching traffic is an Aloha 737 approximately 1/2 mile at 290 degrees.
So, why is an Italian 'designer' depicting his 'flying car' in a controlled airspace at Honolulu Intl. Airport?
Please Lord, preserve us from EVER developing 'everyman' aerial vehicles.
I am nearly 60 years old. We have been promised flying cars since as far back as I can remember. One thing is for sure, if they ever do make them available, they won't let any of US get anywhere near them. Probably won't let anybody actually fly them either. They will be fully computer-controled (SkyNet). Oooo... lots of fun. NOT.
PS: This looks like another variation on Moller's designs. At least give him some credit. He's been banging his head against this wall for decades.
OOOPS!
@mtsmiths: Especially when Honolulu Approach Control gets a busy signal or thrown to voicemail because Soccer Mom is on the phone and sipping her Starbucks grande decaf no-fat latté that she picked up at their fly-through window...
Gerry Anderson called. The '60s wants its broken promises back.
A lot of people can barely drive a car, so they can't be fit to fly a...thing.
Meh. When they offer a diesel powered 'ute version I might be interested.
@mtsmiths:
Yah. If they fly like they drive, lord help us.....
Pilot license (or the like) would be necessary to fly this thing I hope...Can you imagine a drunk-ass hillbilly greeting you in one of these things at 4 a.m. in your high-rise apartment living room because he was "Asleep at the Wheel"?
I have some money coming from Nigeria, who do I call to invest?
I have a dream of a society where we can all just drive cool cars around and gas is free.
I just need to work out the economics.
very similar to the moller "ponzi" mobile
Looks like Jalops has PMS. Popular Mechanics Syndrome.
It isn't technology preventing flying cars, it's the FAA and risk-aversion.
Okay, in this instance, possibly *reasonable* risk-aversion.
-Kle.
"Looks like Jalops has PMS ..."
Except that Popular Mechanics BELIEVES this kind of techno-fluff. When it comes to attitude, Jalopnick is the automotive version of Fark.
Damn you, laws of gravity and motion! If it weren't for your silly rules, this would all be possible!
@TR3-A: and scamming people out of bunches of money. i guess you could give him credit for making up the tech and then getting money for it, whereas this guy gets credit for actually being honest about the fact that he can't figure it out.
The whole "flying car" concept has a fatal flaw. You can't trust the average commuter to safely drive in 2 dimensions. Now you want to give them 3 dimensions!!! They'll be falling out of the sky like overripe crab apples!
@danofromraleigh: They manage to do okay with it in The Jetsons...haha
but seriously this is sweet they featured them in Popular Science a little while back i believe.
@superbryant88: No man, I think the point is that it's not sweet.
The whole thing can be summed up as:
"Some guy thinks flying cars are cool, has no idea how to make one."
If all it takes to be an inventor is to be able to think of stuff you can't build then I must be the most brilliant person ever. I've invented so many things. I even invented my own flying car with the ability to time travel and leave the atmosphere.
Why are my
"This man's an idiot!" senses tingling a little?
When all is said and done, the lack of technology/knowledge/forethought is taken into consideration, what this man has really invented is a:-
"Pretty Shape"
"They all laughed when I sat down at the piano..." oops. Wrong century.
The only successful, cheap personal flight so far is the guy with the balloons attached to his lawn chair. Plus a BB pistol to shoot out balloons for controlled descent. A lot safer for everyone than 350 mph drunken and/or bad drivers buzzing us.
@Euromobile: Laugh at me all you want, but I have every "Thunderbirds" episode, "UFO" episode, and "Space: 1999" episode in my home library on DVD. Yeah, I'm a nerd... and I worship at the altar of Gerry Anderson...
crappy computer-generated flying cars... meh.
crappy computer-generated flying cars with photoshopped lens flare? DO WANT!
even if flying cars ever do take off, i'll stick to driving on terra firma. the traffic would be better, and the chances of dying in a flying blaze of awesome would be significantly lower. i think.
@smokyburnout: One can hope... we had a general aviation accident over Corona (SoCal) this week. A plane wheel crashed thru a dealership roof, killimg an employee, and two bodies from one of the planes fell from the sky and bounced multiple times after striking the tarmac (except the body that landed on a car). The sky is already too scary... imagine flying cars...!
"I think there's a world market for about five computers." Thomas J Watson, Chairman of the Board, IBM.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a mouse. There is no evidence that people want to use these things." John Dvorak, San Francisco Examiner, February 1984.
'Difficult' is what can be done over the next couple of months.
'Impossible' just takes a bit longer, that's all.
Some rednecks in New Jersey demonstrated a flying Suzuki Sidekick a while back. What's the big deal?
more road for the rest of us
Now these are some spinners I can get interested in.
One flaw I've always seen in flying cars... Standard land vehicles have a tendency to break down after how many decades of existence? Granted they're generally reliable, but it only takes one breakdown when you're hundreds if not thousands of feet above the ground to ruin your day. At least with ground vehicles, the engine can fail, but you can still drive yourself to safety.
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