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Will They Fly?(Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency)(a dream to build flying cars)
Byline: Steve Thompson
AS I WATCHED Luc Besson's 1997 movie The Fifth Element, in which Bruce Willis helps save the world (again), I was intrigued by the flying cars that are central to the story. Sci-fi representations of what we'll be flying or driving are always interesting, because they reveal assumptions about how future transportation systems will work. Flying cars are far from new, in fiction or fact, and NASA itself has made a commitment to help develop something very much like a flying car, through the Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge.
With a prize purse of $250,000, the Challenge is an annual competition to design, build and operate what the boosters of the notion claim is the next big step in personal transportation, especially for trips between 75 and 800 miles. Overseeing the competition is the CAFE Foundation. "CAFE'' stands for Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency, the brainchild of eye surgeon Brien Seeley. From Aug. 4-12, CAFE will run the NASA PAV Challenge at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, where CAFE is based.
In 1990, Seeley asked me to drive a minivan in what he called "The First CAFE 400 for Automobiles,'' as a means of providing a ground-vehicle comparison with the efficiency of the aircraft ...
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...t have to be a veteran pilot to take flying cars such as the Transition for a spin...want to try flying for sport, or fun. Flying cars, powered parachutes, and special balloons...such a car? Background How long have flying cars been around? A company called Aerocar...
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...to do?") is, Whatever happened to flying cars? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The twentieth...Patrick Tucker and Rick Docksai take on flying cars (The Jetsons) and undersea living...beginning on page 43. About the Cover Flying cars are only science-fiction fantasies...
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- News wire article from: Europe Intelligence Wire September 28, 2004 700+ words
...believes that the introduction of 'flying cars' will change everything. The city...Pulford said that people's beliefs that flying cars were a thing of the far-off future...evidence to suggest that once these flying cars are introduced the take up will be huge...
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- Magazine article from: Assembly Weber, Austin September 1, 2006 700+ words
...above all the congestion. Motorists have fantasized about flying cars for many years. In fact, the concept of "roadable aircraft...automobiles clogging roads around the world, interest in flying cars is heating up. While most schemes involve tinkerers working...
- Flying Cars, Mars Colonies, and Cyberspace: What Ever Happened to the Future?
- Magazine article from: ExtremeTech.com November 8, 2004 700+ words
...the inner planets and even the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Flying cars flitted around towns, while shuttle service to orbiting cities...way I thought it would. Not a single space colony exists, flying cars are still something of a pipe dream, and I still can't...
- So where are the flying cars?(Brief Article)
- Magazine article from: Indiana Business Magazine Gould, Todd January 1, 2000 700+ words
...remember some pretty bizarre images of the future, complete with flying cars and towering, gothic space cities floating amid the stars...works on Hoosier heritage. "Obviously we're not taking our flying cars into work every day. But history itself contains some very...
- IATA, EUROCONTROL & CANSO COMMIT TO FLIGHT EFFICIENCY PLAN.
- News wire article from: BERNAMA The Malaysian National News Agency September 9, 2008 700+ words
...Association (IATA) has signed a three-party commitment to a flight efficiency plan with European Organisation for the safety of Air Navigation...to improving environmental performance," he said. The flight efficiency plan focuses on improvements in five areas -- enhancing...
- Flying cars. (Science Letters).
- Magazine article from: Highlights for Children Horenstein, Randy, Jr. November 1, 2001 700+ words
Why did they not make flying cars? Randy Horenstein Jr. Florida I think you are wondering why we do not have cars with wings so that they can also fly like airplanes...
- Flying cars by MIT students to be on road by 2011.
- News wire article from: PTI - The Press Trust of India Ltd. March 25, 2009 700+ words
Flying cars by MIT students to be on road by 2011 Washington, Mar 25 (PTI) Now the dream of owning a flying car might just be an reality...
- 'Flying Cars Ready to Take Off'.
- Press release article from: PR Newswire August 23, 2005 700+ words
...high-speed flight up to 500 mph. Carter's flight activities were recently noted on CBS's "60 Minutes" segment, "Flying Cars Ready to Take Off." To view accompanying photos, please click the following links: ftp://prsany1P44NY8W@www.prsany...
Source: HighBeam Research, Will They Fly?(Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency)(a dream to...