Terrafugia flying car cleared for take-off

It’s not quite George Jetson’s flying car, but a new roadworthy vehicle capable of deploying wings and taking off down the airport runway will bring to mind the familiar cartoon jingle. 

Meet the ‘Transition,’ a new light sport aircraft developed by MIT aeronautical engineers at US based Terrafugia.

The Transition was intended to be designed as a ‘light sport’ aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane under FAA classification, which means it cannot exceed a maximum weight of 1,320lb (about 600kg).

Richard Gersh, vice president of business development for Terrafugia, said this proved to be a challenge because the Transition had to not only meet aircraft standards but it also needed to include US vehicle safety features like airbags, crumple zones and a roll cage, which added to the weight. 

Cramming all these features into such a light weight limit seemed a bit of sisyphean task for Terrafugia’s engineers until the FAA, somewhat unexpectedly, gave the Transition an exemption for an additional 110 lbs (50kg).

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