Flying Car Dreams May Soon Be a Reality
I&#x27;m a pilot and owner of general aviation aircraft. I simply don&#x27;t understand the appeal of a flying car. It&#x27;s going to inevitably be a compromise design and likely suck at both being a car and at being an aircraft.<p>Aircraft &quot;want&quot; to be lightweight and low-drag and crashworthiness (and expense) is not a significant design parameter. Cars need to be crashworthy as they are frequently bumping into each other.<p>I can fly into nearly any airport and have ground transportation easily available. Certainly at any good-sized airport, of which there are hundreds more than are served by airlines.<p>If that ground transportation suffers a minor collision, no matter, my airplane ride home is unaffected. If my flying car is damaged in a ground collision, I&#x27;m stuck finding another way home and coordinating repairs from a distance. I don&#x27;t want to maintain my car to the standards required of aircraft. (Want an engine overhauled for my airplane? It&#x27;s going to cost more than the median new car. Not bragging; mostly just complaining. Want the annual [invasive] inspection done? In most cases, that&#x27;s going to be a $3-5K bill, minimum.)<p>I welcome the interest and hope some of that rubs off on general aviation interest, but I don&#x27;t see flying cars as anything more practical than a gimmick.<p>Prediction: the media will be the only ones to make significant money from flying cars.