Flying Cars - October 2005

Imagine soaring above the land-bound traffic in your own personal air vehicle, zipping from the countryside to the city. Is this dream any closer to reality?

The technological advances of the last century have caused the world to "shrink" a bit. Modern conveniences such as cars, planes, cell phones, televisions, and the internet have brought us all a little closer together. Now, the world is about to get even smaller. Imagine what it would be like to travel from New York to San Francisco in only two and a half hours -- in your own car! In the not-too-distant future your personal automobile may not only be fast, but it will literally fly.

While it's convenient to carry around one gadget that does a little bit of everything, not everyone wants or needs all of those different functions in a single device. Palm, one of the leaders in handheld computers, has come up with a way to reach out and organize those who want something simpler by creating the Palm Z22. The Z22 is notable not for the fact that it has more bells and whistles, but that it actually has less. Less gizmos, fewer features, fewer buttons to push, small pricetag. Although the Z22 does less than all of those PDA-cell phone-whatever combos, it isn't a stripped-down piece of plastic. On the contrary, it packs a surprising amount of useful functions into its circuits.

What Is A Flying Car?

Flying cars are personal vehicles that can fly -- a merging of cars and planes into "roadable" aircraft.The dream of making cars that can fly has been around practically since the first automobiles rolled off the assembly line. The first automobile/plane hybrid was patented in 1917, shortly after the Wright Brothers' first flight. In spite of this early interest, only 10 additional patents for personal air vehicles (PAVs) have been filed since then. Through the decades flying cars have mainly been experimental modes of transportation and the stuff of fiction -- think of the Jetsons, Harry Potter, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the novels of Philip K. Dick. Recently however, the combination of new technologies and increasing traffic problems have helped renew interest in this type of transportation vehicle. Companies such as Boeing, Honda, Toyota and Ford are all currently participating in research and development projects for various flying car models, focusing not just on experimentation, but on bringing the technology to the masses.

Potential Uses & Impacts on the Real Estate Industry

There are many variations of flying cars. Some are designed to merely hover a few feet off the ground, while others will reach heights that require them to follow FAA aircraft regulations. Automobile-airplane hybrids are also being explored. These dual-function vehicles would be able to travel on land and take to the air. Other air vehicle concepts currently under development include four- to eight-passenger air taxis, or very light jets (VLJs), which would shuttle passengers between smaller airports. The SUV-sized air taxis are expected to debut soon, possibly even in 2006.More ambitious projects like the Moller Skycar are designed to function more like a personal aircraft. Once completed, the Skycar will eventually be able to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, reach speeds of 350 mph, fly at an altitude of 32,000 feet, and have a range of about 900 miles. A recent study by the National Association of REALTORS® concluded that a major factor in selecting a home was commuting distance from work. So where would people choose to live if they could travel 150 to 300 miles in an hour? Would they live in different states from their employers, different countries, or settle in remote areas? If so, would real estate develop into a global system to span the vast distances that clients were able to travel? Would fluency in multiple languages be the norm? Perhaps we would see droves of workers from New York shunning the high prices of tiny Manhattan apartments in favor large houses in the wide open spaces of Montana. And how will this impact the homes themselves? Today's homebuyers often covet multi-car garages, or for the very wealthy, a heliport. If flying cars were to become mainstream, extra-wide garages and driveways or even flat rooftops might become the next must-have features in new homes.

Drawbacks

Although many of us can hardly wait for the day when we can escape the traffic and fly above the clouds for our daily commute, flying cars are still far from being a utopian travel solution just yet. Currently, dual-function flying cars that can also operate on land require about 45 minutes of mechanical conversion before they can become airborne. This inconvenience would have to be considerably reduced before the land/air car would be a viable daily commuting option for the mainstream population. Safety is also a major concern. There are no guidelines, laws or regulations to protect the general public when taking to the air en mass. Flying cars would have to be simple enough to operate without extensive technical training. They would also need safety features to keep them aloft in case of engine failure or mechanical difficulties. Currently some manufacturers are considering incorporating parachutes into their designs.However, NASA seems to have faith in the future of this new mode of transportation. They are currently developing a navigation system, dubbed "highway in the sky," that may have us all buzzing around like George Jetson one day, without fear of bumping into neighboring commuters. Flying cars may one day be guided with the aid of a futuristic navigation systems that will detect all other objects in the sky in order to avoid them. Even so, Mark Moore, head of NASA's vehicle systems program, expects it will be at least 25 years before flying cars resemble anything "remotely Jetsons-like." Flying cars are getting closer to reality, but they're still a dream for most of us.

Costs

Projected costs range considerably depending on the type of vehicle. Do-it-yourself conversion kits that would allow specially designed cars to fly are projected to cost around $25,000. However, the more luxurious and integrated flying cars when mass produced might go for as little as $60,000, or up to $120,000, for a top of the line 4 passenger model. For those who just can't wait to get a flying car of your very own, this year's Neiman Marcus holiday catalog will be offering the ability to preorder your very own M400 Skycar. For a mere $3.5 million (plus a three-year waiting period), you can be the first one on your block to own one.

- Michele Cordero

NAR's Web Wizard Report - No. 73 (October 2005)

For Further Reading

Flying cars, (Wikipedia, 2005)

How flying cars will work, (HowStuffWorks.com, 2005)

A flying leap for cars; That's right, efforts to take personal transportation airborne are progressing rapidly. "Air taxis" will come first. Then..., (Business Week, Aug. 24, 2004)

Your air taxi is almost ready; Boston startup Linear Air is out to get a jump on this new form of point-to-point flying in "very light jets," which may debut in 2006, (Business Week, Sept. 19, 2005)

Questions or Comments?

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