Terrafugia

Well-heeled travelers tired of airport lines have some good news today from Terrafugia.

The maker of the Transition flying car said that a production prototype, the D2, made its first flight earlier in March, a step toward what it hopes will be commercial availability within the next year. Company engineers took the Transition for an eight-minute flight around Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The Transition is two-seat personal aircraft that is legal to drive on streets and highways and that runs, both in the air and on the road, on unleaded gasoline. The wings fold up to make … Read more

Concept cars at auto shows are often harbingers for what could come in the next few years, so what should show goers think about Terrafugia's debut at the New York International Auto Show?

Terrafugia's Transition is a two-seater aircraft with folding wings that's also capable of driving around town and on highways. The flying car is set for its first big auto show in April. Terrafugia will display its latest generation production prototype at the event, and reveal details of future plans. Although test-drives won't be part of the experience, the Woburn, Mass.-based company will … Read more

Talk about a way to beat traffic.

Actually, you won't be able to take off out of gridlock in Terrafugia's flying car, but at least you'll be able to drive it on roads to the nearest airport. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently granted special exemptions for the Transition "roadable aircraft."

The exemptions clear the way for shipping to begin from Terrafugia's Massachusetts plant following testing. The flying car is slated to enter production this year, with shipping in 2012.

The NHTSA stipulations involve the type of tires and windscreen the Transition will use as a land vehicle. The tires are rated for highway speeds and the windshield will be made of polycarbonate materials instead of automotive safety glass to save weight and prevent shattering in a bird strike.

Terrafugia says the Transition, which notched its maiden flight in 2009, is "the first (light airplane) to incorporate automotive safety features such as a purpose-built energy absorbing crumple zone, a rigid carbon fiber occupant safety cage, and automotive-style driver and passenger airbags." … Read more

After several years in development, Terrafugia's "flying car" could be available for sale before the end of next year.

Setting up shop in its new manufacturing plant in Woburn, Mass., Terrafugia is aiming for low-volume production of its "flying car," or Transition Roadable Aircraft, as early as late 2011, the company announced Wednesday.

For the longer haul, plans for high-volume production are uncertain and would depend on how well low-volume manufacturing goes. In the general aviation industry, low volume is typically tens or dozens of aircraft each year, while high volume can reach the mid-hundreds, … Read more

Terrafugia, a developer of "roadable aircraft"--otherwise known as flying cars--released a scale model and computer-generated mockups of its redesigned "Transition" vehicle on Monday that the company says bring it a step closer, engineering-wise, to a deliverable product late next year.

The design tweaks, Terrafugia explained, were based on the results of a successful test flight last year at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York. Some of the improvements include a touch-screen cockpit interface and better-optimized wings with a new folding mechanism that helps them retract for road driving. It'll still run on gas station … Read more

This 4th of July weekend, you might, either at its beginning or its end, find yourself wishing your car could fly.

Thanks to a new FAA decision, this wish might seem slightly less Peter Pan and slightly more Peter Perfect.

It seems that the soaring minds behind the Terrafugia Transition have secured a remarkable weight exemption from the FAA, allowing it to carry such vital necessities as crumple zones, airbags, and a structural cage on its revolutionary flying car.

No, the airbags won't help much in the air. But road safety is just as vital for this dual-purpose flying … Read more

This story has been updated. See below for details.

The start-up Terrafugia first popped up on our radar screens in early 2006 with a one-fifth scale model, $30,000 in prize money, and an urge to build a car that could fly. Or is that an airplane you can take on the highway?

Some signs point strongly to the latter. Terrafugia describes its Transition vehicle as a "roadable aircraft" and is pitching it in part as giving private pilots an easy travel alternative when bad weather makes flying a bad idea, or simply to avoid having to take … Read more

The founders of a company called Terrafugia are undoubtedly very, very clever.

All graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they formed the company four years ago with the aim of creating The Transition, a car that flies--not merely in the speed sense of "flies," but rather in the "takes off and does things planes do" sense.

The initial flight is planned for the end of this month or some time in February at an airport in upstate New York.

I am worried, not so much because I am suspicious of flying but because I am … Read more