Time Travel discussion

Finally! The flying car that really could be coming to a road (and sky) near you:

http://www.techodrom.com/etc/finally-...

Looks like it really works - a little scary to fly by the looks of it, but someone will refine it.

I've often wondered what the world would be like if we had anti-gravity belts for personal use. If we were all using them in cities, what would the traffic rules be? A head-on collision at 30mph for each person would be 60mph combined. Would you get bag-snatchers? Would the police have the power to immobilise forward movement? There's be hackers who could get round these systems, I guess.

Mark wrote: "Looks like it really works - a little scary to fly by the looks of it, but someone will refine it.

I've often wondered what the world would be like if we had anti-gravity belts for personal use. I..."

It looks like it works, but not too well yet. Just driving down the street, it looked a bit rickety. And the film of it flying never showed it getting very high off the ground. But the point is that it's getting there. And I assume you'd have to have a pilot's license for it, etc. So, still, I don't think it's the flying car we've envisioned, but it's getting there.

It reminded me of the Wright brothers' first flight: short and unsteady. But we're a world away from that now. I would have thought drone technology will help drive it. As with other aircraft, sadly it will be the military applications pushing it.

For a journalistic assignment recently I looked at some 1938 magazines I've had since I was 10 (no, I didn't buy them myself in 1938 before anyone says it!). They had lightweight flying armoured cars as an idea. I was so taken with the idea I made a model of one.

I love the idea of flying cars...but the logistics of reality...I have to get up to 70 miles per hour for a good take off...you do that on the freeway? Your driveway, backyard runway? Then fly on over to Wal-Mart on a Saturday. You think trying to find a parking space was murder before, Look out pedestrians did you look both ways Left Right...oh and up?

Lincoln wrote: "I love the idea of flying cars...but the logistics of reality...I have to get up to 70 miles per hour for a good take off...you do that on the freeway? Your driveway, backyard runway? Then fly on..."

We always envision cars that can take off vertically like the Delorean in Back to the Future, right? Otherwise, you'd have to drive your car to the airport and get in a take-off queue.

Step 1: Drive to the airport.
Step 2: Wait for your turn to use the runway.
Step 3: Fly to an airport near your desired destination.
Step 4: Circle for landing clearance
Step 5: Drive to destination
Step 6: Repeat steps 1-5 to get home.

I think we'd have heli-cars before we'd have Delorean-like cars in the air. However, helicopters generally require more of a 3D driving aptitude that might not come as naturally to some (I suck at helicopter flight simulators, so I could never fly a heli-car). Additionally, a plane-like flying car would allow for more hands-off driving. Perhaps those with more flight knowledge than I have could give more insight. I'm just envisioning a lot more accidents with Joe Driver in a heli-car than Joe Driver in an aero-car. But aero-cars only seem practical for flight to a distant city rather than tootling around town.

I think this is definitely more useful for the person who is going long distances or in some cases, shorter distances over water. I wouldn't mind having one of these to shoot over to the Bahamas with. All of those islands have multiple non-busy airports. I'm sure it's a poor handling plane and a poor performing car, but it definitely would fill a vacancy. I could see it being a good fit for businessmen who travel in state. We have a few guys at my airport who actually buy junky cars and leave them parked at airports around Florida so they can fly there and have something to get around in.
Helicopters would be cool if we all had helipads in our yards, but I agree, that would take a lot more training for the general public.
Now we just need a drive-able Seaplane...

I read the subject line too quickly and thought it said " Behold! I Give You ... The Flying Cat." I confess to being a little disappointed now...

Ah. Here we go. The Volocopter: a personal 18-rotor, battery-powered helicopter ... which they swear the average driver can master in a 5-hour course:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/m...

Official site: http://www.e-volo.com/