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Flying car crashes on test taxi

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Motorists have long dreamed about flying cars, but they’re still not common place despite the best efforts of a number of different companies. One of the firms working on the idea is Detroit Flying Cars and they’ve suffered a major setback as their WD-1 prototype has crashed at Willow Run Airport in Michigan. According to WDIV and WXYZ, the crash happened shortly after 1 pm local time when the WD-1 was conducting a taxi test. During the test, the plane unexpectedly went airborne and crashed back… (www.carscoops.com) Mehr...

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chalet
chalet 1
Think of some say 100 Terrafugias or similar concoctions thereof happily flying over Manhattan on a nice spring afternoon driven (not piloted) by teenagers, old ladies, middle men looking for fun and add to the explosive mixture some 500 Amazon/UPS/Pizza Hut, etc. drones rushing to deliver orders. It took one or two helicopters of New York Airways crashing down on the top of the PanAm building to stop landing there. The End of the World as we know it is Coming (LIMAO).
dee9bee
dee9bee 1
It sounds like something Howard Hughes would have said when 'testing' the Spruce Goose back in 1947 at Long Beach. Just showing my age...
fitzmiller
fitzmiller 0
Looks like the video clip was taken from, God forbid, a.... DRONE!
bsampson
Bill Sampson 1
Well as the old sang goes, "back to the drawing board".
majmzahid
Zahid Major 1
Such test are recommended to be carried out on field air strips instead of places of rush and venues of human activity to save loss to men and matetial. Experiments are always done in isolated sites.
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 5
1 down, 38 to go before they get to WD-40. That one will fly.
siriusloon
siriusloon 3
Flying cars are the very definition of compromise. They are neither a good car nor a good aircraft, so there are two good reasons why they should all be firmly locked inside hangars or garages -- permanently.
chalet
chalet 1
And the designers and investors should be serviced with a lock them up threat
ajagostini
ajagostini 2
Driver/pilots aside, how many Chevy Malibus and Honda Civics do you see in day to day traffic with the corners shaved off or random dents in the doors? At close to $300K I'm certain that after an hour in the much less than sterile tarmac or a WalMart parking lot, any "flying" car's days of flying would be over. The owner would lose his/her much less than practical/useful aircraft and be left with a car with about as much performance as the shopping cart that permanently ended it's flying career.
Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 2
The builders of these jokes must be addicted to watching re-runs of the "Jetsons"...just saying!

bsampson
Bill Sampson 1
LOL...well said my friend
jbermo
jbermo 1
. . . . a complex flying car powered with the same horsepower of a Cessna 150 - really?
richardorgill
Richard Orgill 3
>>>>>During the test, the plane unexpectedly went airborne <<<<<<

Yep right along with the swamp land I have for sale.
Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 1
Does the Swamp land come with full minerals rights?
nightflyer182
nightflyer182 2
The FAA will never approve any flying automobile. Besides, over 90% of the general public would not pass a medical, much less a flight exam! Why dont these investors just give their money to good, honest people who go broke working their tail off to get an ATP!!!!!!
ToddBaldwin3
ToddBaldwin3 18
Do you think Liberty Mutual will give them Accident Forgiveness?
khaiduk
Kevin Haiduk 4
Maybe the General & Shaq were riding along.
stansdds
Nice idea, but flying cars would need to be fully automated unless we are willing to accept multiple mid-air collisions and debris raining down onto city streets every day.
chalet
chalet 2
"Fully automated" Uh. Hell the automation system to allow for a safe flight to hundreds of similar vehicles flying in all directions in the same área at the same time would cost more than this hybrid crazy concoction that I refuse to call car or plane.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
What do you do in the case of equipment failure... The idiot driving/flying just can coast to the side of the sky and wait for AAA... Instead he will probably bury it and wait for the FAA and the NTSB!
dmanuel
dmanuel 2
How would flying cars work with the restrictions associated with Class Bravo/Charlie/Delta airspace and (constantly changing) TFRs? Most promotional pitches seem to imply operations in or near major urban environments. If the noncompliance of drone operations is an indicator, the folks at Homeland Security are likely to have some input on this mode of transportation’s utility.
siriusloon
siriusloon 6
Stand on any corner in any city and see how many morons are on the road. Do we really want them operating in three dimensions? People speed, run red lights, ignore traffic laws, etc because 99% of the time, they can get away with it. Who's going to monitor and police people like that in the skies?

Flying car inventors are either delusional or scam artists. They always seem to find investors who will pour in cash to keep them in a comfortable lifestyle and then when the whole thing both figuratively and literally crashes and burns, the inventor walks away (unless they're dumb enough to be their own test pilot, which few of them are) and the investors lose their money. Look at the histories of pretty much every flying car company founder and you'll see this is true. (The same usually applies to people who start new car companies. (See Bricklin, DeLorean, etc.)

Until we perfect, and by "perfect" (the verb) I also mean perfect (the adjective), self-driving cars and they are proven safe and are accepted by the vast majority of people, there's no way that flying cars are going to be approved.
Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 1
I will venture to guess the "GROUND" will pretty much police the idiots!
bsampson
Bill Sampson 2
History reflects the same about aircraft manufacturers or most progressive inventors. It not about flying cars but an idea, those ideas that have taken mankind to where we are today. Electric automobiles, "come on", "give me a break", " it could never work". I remember reading that twenty-some years ago.
Keep moving Detroit Flying Cars and NASA and all who are able to take humanity the next 100 years and beyond. You are hardly delusional and there are times when being a "scam artist" is the only way to get there, just ask my wife.
linbb
linbb 7
Don't think it will pass the DOT crash test for an auto let alone fly worth anything. Waste of time Molt Taylor years ago tried to make one was the same deal. Can anyone imagine hundreds of flying cars in LA say? The carnage would be enormous they have trouble now just driving to work. Get real.
scott8733
scott8733 2
Agreed. I guess running the pothole gauntlet on the GW bridge into Manhattan still is safer after I read the article...despite the fact there are potholes large enough to swallow most small cars.

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