Why haven’t flying cars taken off? (Article)

AntennaMan

AntennaMan

Expert Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
2,310
One of the fundamental reasons is that cars are made to stay on the road and planes are made to stay in the air.

This is extremely basic, but this is also what all these back-yard inventors building flying cars forget. To make a car drive like a car and safely stay on the road, you need downforce. The faster the car goes, the more downforce you need (just look at F1/LeMans cars). There are youtube video's available that shows what happens when a car travelling at 200+km/h lose downforce. They flip over completely.

Planes don't want downforce. You want your wings to lift, thereby lifting the plane into the air. This is the exact opposite of what the car wants.

Flying cars have been developed, but they are sub-standard cars and sub-standard aeroplanes (jack of all trades, master of none).

Maybe the article is right. When we reach the limits of our current technology, greater innovations will follow. I am sure that someone will eventually develop a type of flying car that will perform well as a car and as an aeroplane. We just aren't there yet.
 
V

Vaughan

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
598
The reason you don't have flying cares is fuel usage and efficiency. It takes considerably more energy to keep a weight in the air rather than having the weight roll on the floor.
 
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