ZOMG I want this!!!
 

The thread for things you really really really really want.

Even if it'll put your eye out.

First up, I give you the Terrafugia Transition.



I. Want. This.

Read about this today. Pretty steep price tag at just under 200K, but a fun toy indeed. only requires 20 hours of flight training. not too bad.

There have been many times when I was stuck on the 5 saying to myself I wish I had a flying rocket car. Now that the Cheese Man is getting one, I may have to catch a ride with him to the park next time I visit.

Aren't there some cars that already approach the $200K price tag? I don't think any of them can FLY.

OMG it's a flying car! Now I just need my jetpack.

At least three of those things are available (and have been for decades). It just turns out that not many people actually want them and one of them people so definitely don't want that they won't even let other people have them.

For me the big issue (besides the cost of course) is that all these flying cars are restricted to take offs and landings from airports just like other small aircraft.

When I can pull out of my driveway, take off, fly across town and set down in the Nationals parking lot 10min later I'll look at taking out a second mortgage to pay for it.

When this thing was first announced, I asked my pilot friend how quickly one could feasibly get in the air with one of these, assuming you've just arrived at an airport like John Wayne that caters to a lot of small craft traffic. He figured, assuming you've got all your pre-flight stuff done, ~15 minutes. Based on that, + travel time to and from airports on either end...I came up with ~150 miles as the threshold for when it starts to make sense to fly the car instead of just drive it. I don't recall all the numbers and assumptions I made to come up with that. But if you're a regular SD->LA commuter, it could be useful. Or if you head to Vegas from the LA area often. Or, assuming a refeuling stop isn't a major hassle, even LA->bay area.

If you're someone who can afford to drop the $200K, I bet you're someone who makes a lot of trips of that distance. The ability to just drive in and out of an airport might be pretty beneficial.

Why, do interesting things happen at the Nationals Stadium in the off season?

I'm pretty sure I can carve out a small runway out here on the farm. Now, if only they'd make it a flying BOAT car, I could land it in DCA.

I would name her Chitty.

I'm pretty sure that if I could afford the flying car, I could afford an estate large enough to have ... and money enough to construct ... a runway - - plus whatever pesky license fee I need to run a private airport. Pfft, dollars? Who cares?

Screw that - I want a Light Cycle!

Wow, a flying car... and only 10 years behind schedule!

I'm sure they could make it a flying boat car by adding those float things like "de plane" on Fantasy Island, and putting the wheels there. If you're going to plunk down $200K for a flying car, why not an extra $50K for a flying boat car?

Part of the deal with the flying car is that it actually functions as a car, shrinking down to car size, so you can drive to and from airports. I think boat floats would negate that.

Nonsense. If wings can be tucked up or out of the way somehow so you can drive, so can boat floats.

But they'd add weight

The wings fold upward. If the floats are attached to the bottom of the wings I don't see how that would work.

I know a car that can do all three.

am I seriously joining a discussion of the real-world-logistics of creating a boatplanecar?

One would presume that if the goal were to design a boatplanecar, the designers would not be limited in their design options to "okay, attach floats to this existing planecar". Just because there's no way to attach floats to the wings-as-designed doesn't mean it's inconceivable that floats can be attached and fold away with some alternate design. By your argument, they should have given up on designing the Transition. I mean, if you attach folding wings to a car, they'll block the doors, there's no way that could work.

Really, once you're going down the road of a boatplanecar what you really want is a submarineplanecar.

I think submarineplanecar presents far more difficulties. Why do the floats have to be attached to the wings. Why not have them simply retract under the chasis? Sheesh, where's Carackatus Potts when you need him?

Hehe.

Why would you you need floats at all?

Oh, I didn't realize we were talking practical engineering rather than ZOMG I want this!!!

Wouldn't work - as soon as you rolled down the windows (to get some fresh air) when in submarine mode, it would sink.

Well, presumably it would sink even when you hadn't rolled down the windows. Otherwise it wouldn't be a very good submarinecarplane.

I want a submarinecarplane!

Okay, so I was going to say that I really really really really did want a boatplanecar and why can't there be a practical solution for it - and then you started talking about a submarineplanecar. Then this exchange occurred.

Alex wins the thread.

He usually does.

I know it's lame, but I feel compelled to post my LOLs here