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>Practical flying cars, at least as they are seen in films, requires a method of flying that does not rely on aerodynamics or reaction mass and has an energy st

by marvin 13y ago

>Practical flying cars, at least as they are seen in films, requires a method of flying that does not rely on aerodynamics or reaction mass and has an energy store that is far better than petrol. That's not true. All you'd need is batteries with higher capacity and some clever engineering of ducted fan propellers with variable geometry. You couldn't manage nearly as high speeds as passenger airliners in the lower atmosphere, but you could certainly manage cruise at speeds and efficiencies around those of a car. A modern sailplane cruises at an effective energy consumption of 3 kW (4 HP) at 100kph (calculated as sink rate at max L/D times gross weight). You wouldn't get this efficient without some really smart engineering of the lifting surfaces, but there are plenty of avenues that haven't been explored yet if you've got VTOL capability and don't have to engineer the wings for safe landing speeds. The key is that the design has to use wings, it's the only practical way to generate lift efficiently.

lotsofmangos 13y ago
I said as they are seen in films. The ones in films vtol right next to pedestrians and other vehicles and have no wings. To achieve that, they are not pushing air around. Of course you can always get a microlight, but they already exist and they are not flying cars.
- marvin 13y ago
  There are huge engineering avenues that haven't been explored at all in this regard. As I said, all contemporary aircraft have large wings in part because they have to maintain high lift at low speeds, when landing. There is a big likelihood that some design compromise could be made where a lifting-body design, foldable wings or similar concept could be used to make a much smaller and more lightweight vehicle. A more realistic answer to your initial post is that we don't know yet, not that it is impossible.

by marvin 13y ago

lotsofmangos 13y ago

I said as they are seen in films. The ones in films vtol right next to pedestrians and other vehicles and have no wings. To achieve that, they are not pushing air around. Of course you can always get a microlight, but they already exist and they are not flying cars.

marvin 13y ago
There are huge engineering avenues that haven't been explored at all in this regard. As I said, all contemporary aircraft have large wings in part because they have to maintain high lift at low speeds, when landing. There is a big likelihood that some design compromise could be made where a lifting-body design, foldable wings or similar concept could be used to make a much smaller and more lightweight vehicle. A more realistic answer to your initial post is that we don't know yet, not that it is impossible.