At least one type of flying car was built, some decades ago.
The car could be driven on the highway
with its engine driving the wheels.
Arriving at the airfield, wings, a tail section and a propeller
were fitted to turn the "car" into a "plane".
This dual-purpose vehicle was not a success,
there being too many compromises and too little cost saving
in the design compared to a separate car and plane.
The Moller Skycar on the other hand is solely an aircraft, albeit
a fast and compact one capable of vertical take-off and landing.
At least one experimental VTOL fighter aircraft
used fans (edge - driven by jet exhaust) to provide lift.
However, the Harrier jump-jet, which uses the Pegasus
vector-thrust turbo-fan is the only successful VTOL aircraft
in use in significant numbers in the west.
4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html
1999 December:
Could this be the "car" of the future?
Moller International, a Californian company, hopes
to revolutionise personal transport with its Skycar.
Looking like something from science fiction,
the Skycar M400 will seat four and be powered by
eight Wankel rotary engines driving four ducted fans.
Thrust from the fans can be angled downwards by movable vanes
for vertical take-off and landing.
The fans also provide thrust in forward flight,
at planned speeds of up to 550km/h (350mph),
in which state extra lift comes from the body shape and other surfaces.
Ducted fans beat helicopter blades from the points of view
of convenience and external safety, particularly in a small commuter craft,
but such designs are notoriously unstable with take-off, landing
and transition being difficult.
Moller hopes that it has solved such problems through the use of modern
computer control.
Eight engines, two per fan, might sound excessive,
but they are geared together by drive-shafts, providing redundancy;
i.e. the craft should still fly if one or two engines fail.
Moller International reports that a two-seat craft
has flown at up to 12 metres in tethered tests.
The company hopes to have demonstrator craft free-flying in 2001.
