Ming the Mechanic:
SkyCar

The NewsLog of Flemming Funch
 SkyCar2004-01-17 06:46
24 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

The Moller SkyCar seems to be making progress. If you don't know what it is, it is a project to make a flying car about the same size and price as a big Mercedes automobile. But which can fly 500km/h, by auto-pilot, and which can hover in the air and land just about anywhere.

Paul Moller's company has worked on it for years. It is a significant enginineering task. They've spent 100 million dollars on R&D, which is really very little in this context. Recently they've done successful hover tests, and expect to do full flight testing within 5 months.

Seems like it would at the earliest be available for real use in about 4 years. But you can reserve yours right now if you can afford it. Various things will need to happen before it can be in normal use, as it is intended to fly by computer control in designated highway corridors in the air. So that needs to be set aside, and the thing needs to be approved by the proper authorities.

And, yes, it guzzles gas. Per kilometer it won't be anything more than a regular car. But you're of course more likely to go shopping 100s of km away if you have one of these. Nevertheless, it is about time we get some flying cars.


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24 comments

17 Jan 2004 @ 10:05 by craiglang : Gridlock
Hmmm, now we can have gridlock in 3D... :-)  


17 Jan 2004 @ 11:03 by Chris @81.249.177.52 : i have a renault clio...
Non franchement... et où est le coffre? et comment fait-on pour mettre les courses et aller à carrefour??? et toutes les options? climatisation, vitres électriques ou direction assistée??? rien de tout ça et ils veulent le vendre aussi cher qu'une grosse mercedes??? non non non... et puis de toutes façons on est limité au maximum à 130km/h... alors où est l'intérêt vu qu'il y a des radars partout maintenant??? Enfin bon si c'est ça le progrès, faire reculer les avancées technologiques de confort pour laisser la place au moteur, moi je m'incline et je prends l'avion... mais pas en Egypte!!!  


17 Jan 2004 @ 13:54 by ming : Renault SkyCar
Oui, je ne vois aucun coffre. Alors, tu peux faire les courses à Monaco, très vite, mais tu as seulement l'espace pour une bouteille de lait. Et tu peux te garer au-dessus l'autres voitures et descendre dans une échelle. Très practique!  


17 Jan 2004 @ 15:17 by sharie : I'm lookin' for a mobile home model.
Something with collapsible body size... when I'm flyin' I don't need a big machine... then when I set down on water or land, I can extend the rooms out and enjoy the space, the sunset, the stars, and our friends. I've been looking forward to t his for quite awhile. Of course it will have hammocks for sleeping, a mini microwave and electric skillet... a little sink...
and a bathroom, compost toilet or methane conversion for power.

People will need to go where the water is.  



18 Jan 2004 @ 09:03 by Chris @81.249.177.52 : lait
Non mais franchement est-ce que c'est bien raisonnable d'aller faire ses courses à monaco où le cours du lait est aussi élevé que celui du chameau au groënland??? Non franchement ce type de voiture a peu d'avenir pour la ménagère de moins de 50 ans... (une idée pour les modalités de passage du permis e conduire de ces engins???)  


18 Jan 2004 @ 09:05 by Chris @81.249.177.52 : roue
Et puis vous avez vu la troisième roue devant??? C'est en fait un tricycle avec des hélices... ridicule... vivent les voitures françaises!!!  


18 Jan 2004 @ 10:01 by ming : Voitures volantes
Haha, c'est un réve typique de les Americains. Mais je l'aime bien. Maintenant il y a besoin d'un license pilot pour conduire une voiture comme ca. Mais le projet est de le faire plus facile, parce que en fait un ordinateur ira la conduire.  


21 Jan 2004 @ 12:56 by sharie : wikisound alternative
http://world.altavista.com/ translates Chris & ming & lugon

In English:
Chris: milk

No, but frankly is it quite reasonable to go to races in Monaco where the price of milk is as high as that of the camel to the groënland??? Frankly, this type of car has little future for the housewife less than 50 years... (an idea for the methods of passage of the licence E of leading these machines???)

18 Jan 2004 @ 09:05 by Chris: coils

And then you saw the third wheel in front??? It is in fact a tricycle with propellers... ridiculous... long live the French cars!!!

18 Jan 2004 @ 10:01 by ming: Flying cars

Haha, it is a typical dream of Americains. But I like it. Now there needs a license pile to drive a car like Ca. But the project is to make it easier, because makes a computer of it will lead it.

19 Jan 2004 @ 09:39 by lugon: good technology for cars

If a computer can take to vehicle like those, surely can also take to automobile like the habitual ones.

Although the best thing is * not to need * a car.

**** Translation completed.

The car, the airplane, the highrise building, the elevator, the ship at sea, the helicopter, the computer... were all once just dreams...

anything is possible.

Drinking water supplies are dwindling and are expected to continue to dwindle, while the population continues to grow. Seems to me people will need to travel to where the water is, and be very mobile... personal aircraft with living quarters seems to me to be the future. I expect property values in southern California to plummet in the next five to ten years. The poor people won't be able to leave. The rich will get out and go to the mountains where there's fresh water and air. When we imagine vehicles of the future, it's wise to envision economic, environmental, political, and social considerations.  



18 Aug 2004 @ 16:33 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.144 : Skycar
Yes, I think it's time we had flying cars too. In a sense we've already had. After all, a car can be suspended by helicopter and there used to be air ferries in service back in the 60s. This is not to mention the Hall Flying Automobile, which was really a car with an aeroplane structure attached to it. Back to the Future part II has also made me want flying cars. When I saw this film at the cinema back in 1990 I saw the idea as being most far-fetched. I assumed it would still be far-fetched in the 2015 that would turn out to be. These flying cars, however, do not have wings or rotors. This is how I would like cars to fly.  


18 Aug 2004 @ 16:51 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.144 : Skycar
Yes, of course I want cars to fly. I also want them to visually resemble the automobiles I admire, such as the SUVs. After all, that's basically what the flying cars of Back to the Future part II are like. Skycar, on the other hand, looks like an aeroplane. Had I not read about it, I wouldn't think of it as a car at all.  


25 May 2006 @ 16:09 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.144 : Dent Resistance
Please read my 5 guestbook entries at collectorscarclub.com pertaining to the use of dent-resistant bodywork. Wouldn't you appreciate dent resistance yourself?  


12 Jun 2006 @ 15:22 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.144 : Dent-Resistant Bodywork
The ussautomtive.com and Mittal Steel websites both seem to provide information on dent-resistant steel. If sheet metal is to continue as the standard bodywork material I would like it to offer at least the same dent-resistant quality as the polymer of GM's Saturns.

My suggestion is that dent-resistant bodywork could hold the key to Korea's reunification.

Autocar have now referred to BMW introducing sheet moulded composite to their vehicles. Also, the AA Book of the Car, published back in 1970, seems to refer to carbon fibre as having potential in car body construction once its high cost can be cut. Now it seems that it has been cut. Furthermore, I was quite impressed with the crash-test performance of a McLaren F1 when one was made to hit a wall at 30mph back in 1993. The bodywork appeared to me to be quite undeformed. Arthur C Clarke's book about 2019 seems to predict that by then, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, sheet metal will have gone the way of wood panelling and will have been superseded by dent-resistant plastic. This has simply strengthened my commitment to lobby for dent-resistant technology.

On the 18th of May I was on air with Heart 106 when I told Natalie B that I could use junk mail to my advantage by informing those people about dent resistance. She went on to say "Dent resistance rules."

On the 29th of July last summer, the BBC news reporter Dermot Murnaghan paid a visit to my home city of Leicester. People were pretending to read the news and weather, I believe. During his visit that day I got a security man to pass the information on to him. Also last summer I informed my MP, Sir Peter Soulsby, about the subject and he later agreed to share the information with his colleagues.

We are now living in the 21st century.  



11 Jul 2006 @ 17:26 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.144 : The Solar System
I would like the solar system to be more thoroughly explored.

As for the exploration of Mars, I would like rovers to be sent to explore a radius of Olympus Mons, Canyonlands and the polar regions. I would also like to see imagery of the Martian equator as well as the geographic poles. With the exploration of Olympus Mons my suggestion is that the rover could work its way up from the foot of the mountain and later descend into its crater.

I would also like the other terrestrial worlds of the solar system to be explored by rovers, including the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. This is not to mention the satellites of Saturn. To think that space exploration hasn't progressed very far since Apollo 17 is rather a top-heavy view, as far as I'm concerned. In January 2005 the Huygens lander touched down on the surface of Titan to provide imagery of its surface, including in colour. 40 years earlier, however, there hadn't been a successful touchdown on the Earth's moon to provide surface imagery, let alone a moon of Saturn's.

The Observer's Book of Astronomy, revised in 1971 seems to refer to the Americans making an official forecast to send men to Mars before 1990. The Viking Landers arrived there in 1976. In 1997 there was the Pathfinder mission to Mars to explore more of the planet. In the 21st century to date Spirit and Opportunity have been roving the planet's surface to provide even more imagery. If men HAD already gone to Mars, what more would there be to see in a general public's point of view apart from men in spacesuits?

In the 2001 that turned out to be Huygens was already on its way to Titan. This is not to mention the Internet and video communications. How does this compare with the Space Odyssey in effect?  



1 Oct 2006 @ 11:35 by Jeremy Keller @87.75.4.18 : Exploring the Solar System
In 1961 John Kennedy delivered a speech promising that Americans would be sent to the Moon and returned safely back to Earth before the end of that decade - and the promise was kept.

I would now like all the terrestrial worlds of the solar system to be explored in detail. The Ladybird book Exploring Space by Roy Worvill clearly states that people are always eager to learn more about the worlds around them.  



2 Jan 2007 @ 17:18 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.130 : Solar System Exploration
The How and Why Wonder book titled Planets and Interplanetary Travel clearly states that man has always wanted to conquer "new" worlds and mountains. Furthermore, the World of Science book on the Solar System clearly refers to spectacular sceneries on Mars.  


20 Jan 2007 @ 09:09 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.130 : Rovers
By "rovers" I could mean Land Rovers or Range Rovers. This is not to mention robotic Humvees. How about sending such a robotic vehicle to explore the surface of another world? Couldn't they do the job every bit as well as Spirit and Opportunity?  


23 Feb 2007 @ 16:11 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.130 : The UK Prime Minister
I do believe the Prime Minister from Downing Street has been informed about my articles. On the 31st of January, dated on the 29th, I received a letter from one of his aides (S Caine) informing me that the Prime Minister had been informed about them and thanked me for sending him the information.  


21 Apr 2007 @ 10:54 by Jeremy Keller @87.75.4.18 : BBC Radio Leicester
On the 23rd of March Jo Hollis made a video of me talking about my articles in a studio of BBC Radio Leicester.  


24 May 2007 @ 15:52 by Jeremy Keller @212.50.184.130 : Mars
I believe that it would look dramatic even if one of the gargantuan mountains there was being approached. The mountain would, I presume, appear to "sprout" on the horizon. Can anyone guess why?

Furthermore, robotic rovers do not require "feeding" or oxygen like humans so I don't think it would matter so much it they were subject to mountain climbing there or the polar regions. Also, Mars has less gravity than Earth. I don't think such conditions would make much difference to robots. The robotic rovers seem to rely on the sun like Christopher Columbus relied on the wind. To put it another way, they seem to be "sun-jammers" as opposed to "wind-jammers". Speaking of whom, his desire to sail across the Atlantic in the middle of last millennium seemed to be ridiculed like my desire to see the gargantuan mountains of Mars and its polar regions explored in detail was earlier in the first decade of this millennium. On the 19.01.2006, I believe, Matthew P Golombek of NASA ridiculed my suggestion that a robotic rover could climb Olympus Mons from the foot of the mountain and go on to descend into its crater.  



23 Jun 2007 @ 15:24 by Jeremy Keller @87.75.4.18 : The Celestial Curvature Effect
It is due to this effect that a distant mountain, such as a gargantuan mountain of Mars, would in theory appear to "sprout" on the horizon whilst being approached. I do believe this was one way people realized our own world was round.  


23 Jun 2007 @ 19:46 by ming : Jeremy Keller
Eh, who the hell is Jeremy Keller, and why are you squatting in my comments here? Is it maybe, perchance, because your repeated comments has made this one of the top hits on Google for your own name? I think you should maybe get your own webpage, and not keep posting random stuff on this one.  


29 Jun 2007 @ 18:59 by ming : Website
Jeremy, go to a place like {link:http://www.blogger.com/home|Blogger} and you can freely and quite easily create a blog, like this one. A blog might be a useful format for you, as you can post new articles and news items and opinions whenever you feel like it, and it is all yours, and you can write as much as you want.  


27 Oct 2007 @ 19:55 by Warren Keller @24.141.210.216 : Flying Car
The first flying car that I am aware of was featured in popular mechanics many years ago. It consisted of a modified Gremlin (anyone remember the Gremlin?) with wings. Eventually it crashed and nothing was heard about it thereafter. Sure, I'd like to see a flying car but I can't help wonder about the logistics and traffic control required such that the car could become main-stream. Number one, the cost must be within reach and number 2, it must have a fail-safe and sophisticated anti-collision and emergency landing system in place. Remember, survival in a mid-air collision, let alone hitting the ground, is pretty slim. Running out of gas and calling the CAA will also have limited application depending on where you are when you run out (ie: better not be in the air).
By the way, who is this Jeremy Keller? What city does he hail from?  



29 Apr 2016 @ 00:43 by Robinson @188.143.232.32 : PXCERDPebSgQneww
Kudos! What a neat way of thnnikig about it.  


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