What ever happened to that Perspex® bubble?

[Qwertz]

You know that bad sci-fi movie from the 70s? The one with the giant Perspex® bubble over the city? Yeah that one. What ever happened to that thing? Not to be tactless or insensitive, but you'd think after four millennia of civilization we'd have figured out a better way of dealing with bad weather than sandbags.

-Q

[Rhinoqulous]

I'm with Qwertz. We're supposed to have all sorts of crazy gadgets by now. I want my flying car! :mad:

[vsxd903s]

I'm with Qwertz. We're supposed to have all sorts of crazy gadgets by now. I want my flying car! :mad:
http://www.moller.com/skycar/

It's not that far away.

[Philboid Studge]

I'm with Qwertz. We're supposed to have all sorts of crazy gadgets by now. I want my flying car! :mad:
http://www.moller.com/skycar/

It's not that far away.
I saw this guy on 60 Minutes a while back. He's got a ways to go, though:

"...the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 350+ MPH and achieve up to 28 miles per gallon."

So, generously assuming you'd ALWAYS get 28 mpg, you'd need at least a 12.5 gallon tank just to fly for an hour. Good news: 7 hours to get from JFK to LAX; bad news: 6 stops for gas. Good news: there's be no need to actually go thri JFK or LAX ...

Don't get me wrong, I hope to be the first to throw up over a red state.

[Tenspace]

I'm with Qwertz. We're supposed to have all sorts of crazy gadgets by now. I want my flying car! :mad:
http://www.moller.com/skycar/

It's not that far away.
I saw this guy on 60 Minutes a while back. He's got a ways to go, though:

"...the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 350+ MPH and achieve up to 28 miles per gallon."

So, generously assuming you'd ALWAYS get 28 mpg, you'd need at least a 12.5 gallon tank just to fly for an hour. Good news: 7 hours to get from JFK to LAX; bad news: 6 stops for gas. Good news: there's be no need to actually go thri JFK or LAX ...

Don't get me wrong, I hope to be the first to throw up over a red state.
I couldn't find any tank size info, but at those numbers, it's not unrealistic to consider that the skycar would have at least a 50-75 gallon tank. That's about 450 pounds of avgas, still within reasonable payload numbers.

Ten

[Switch25]

I don't think flying cars will be flown by everyone like regular cars are today- imagine how easy it would be for a terrorist to use one of those, imagine road rage, drunk drivers, or just plain bad drivers. However you could use some kind of computing system that automatically maps out where your going to go and drives for you but getting people to trust their life with a computer would be hard and driving wouldn't be as fun.

[Sternwallow]

In the old days freedom of the skies meant that anything you could get into the air could go anywhere at any altitude without asking permission from anyone. Today, even a home-built ultre-light must be FAA approved and cannot fly above 500 ft without radio equipment, air traffic control permission, prior notice, permits and licencing. It's getting so a person doesn't even own the air he breathes.

You'll probably have to go through astronaut training to be permitted to run that sky-car and then, only on alternate Thursdays and in your assigned vector..

[Tenspace]

I don't think flying cars will be flown by everyone like regular cars are today- imagine how easy it would be for a terrorist to use one of those, imagine road rage, drunk drivers, or just plain bad drivers. However you could use some kind of computing system that automatically maps out where your going to go and drives for you but getting people to trust their life with a computer would be hard and driving wouldn't be as fun.
The big problem with attempting to bring the general populace into advanced transportation is that they don't want to take the time to learn the advanced concepts necessary to utilize the transportation.

Do you trust that guy in the exit row of the airplane? Think he studied the card and knows how to get the door open? Not me. By the time we're rolling, I've counted the seats between me and the exit row, counted the floor rails as well, and I have memorized exactly how that door opens and where the handles would be in case of zero visibility.

Of course, it always helps to get the exit row seat, so you can glare at the other passengers, content with the knowledge that you'll be the first one off.

[Qwertz]

Wouldn't the flying cars crash into the Perspex® bubble?

-Q

[Mog]

http://www.moller.com/skycar/

It's not that far away.
I saw this guy on 60 Minutes a while back. He's got a ways to go, though:

"...the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 350+ MPH and achieve up to 28 miles per gallon."

So, generously assuming you'd ALWAYS get 28 mpg, you'd need at least a 12.5 gallon tank just to fly for an hour. Good news: 7 hours to get from JFK to LAX; bad news: 6 stops for gas. Good news: there's be no need to actually go thri JFK or LAX ...

Don't get me wrong, I hope to be the first to throw up over a red state.
I couldn't find any tank size info, but at those numbers, it's not unrealistic to consider that the skycar would have at least a 50-75 gallon tank. That's about 450 pounds of avgas, still within reasonable payload numbers.

Ten
Ten, while the site doesn't give tank size info, it does give range. The m400 skycar claims a range of 750 miles. With a fuel consumption of 20 mpg, I would say that implies a 37.5 gallon tank.

[Tenspace]

I saw this guy on 60 Minutes a while back. He's got a ways to go, though:

"...the M400 Skycar can cruise comfortably at 350+ MPH and achieve up to 28 miles per gallon."

So, generously assuming you'd ALWAYS get 28 mpg, you'd need at least a 12.5 gallon tank just to fly for an hour. Good news: 7 hours to get from JFK to LAX; bad news: 6 stops for gas. Good news: there's be no need to actually go thri JFK or LAX ...

Don't get me wrong, I hope to be the first to throw up over a red state.
I couldn't find any tank size info, but at those numbers, it's not unrealistic to consider that the skycar would have at least a 50-75 gallon tank. That's about 450 pounds of avgas, still within reasonable payload numbers.

Ten
Ten, while the site doesn't give tank size info, it does give range. The m400 skycar claims a range of 750 miles. With a fuel consumption of 20 mpg, I would say that implies a 37.5 gallon tank.
And, like most small airplanes, I'll bet it can't travel with full fuel and full payload.

[Philboid Studge]

I don't think flying cars will be flown by everyone like regular cars are today- imagine how easy it would be for a terrorist to use one of those, imagine road rage, drunk drivers, or just plain bad drivers. However you could use some kind of computing system that automatically maps out where your going to go and drives for you but getting people to trust their life with a computer would be hard and driving wouldn't be as fun.
NASA (http://www.matr.net/article-14370.html)
's already on it.