"Honey,   
make sure you
remember to lock
your door."

From the original discoveries of Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1900, Glenn Curtiss was the first to develop an airplane that sported multiple applications.   First the loon in 1908 and then the hydroaeroplane in 1911. In 1912, Herman Ecker perfected the Flying Boat .   His flying boat was well advanced for it's time, considering several airplane prototypes used water-powered steam engines to rotate the prop just several years earlier.   Glenn Curtiss designed the world's first flying car (a tri-wing type design) called the Autoplane in 1917, yet the 3-seater didn't fly good enough for it's continuation.    William Stout designed a Sky Car who also designed the first all-metal cargo plane that Henry Ford purchased for starting the worlds first air-freight delivery service with a famous flight from Detroit to Chicago, in 1924.

In 1937, Waldo Waterman introduced the "Whatsit" later renamed the Arrowbile "Flying Auto" with many successful flights.  Shortly afterwards in 1940, Henry Ford announced that he would be producing his own flying automobile, but was shelved because of World War II.    Robert Fulton Jr., developed and flew his prototype called the Airphibian in 1945.   This production type flying car was designed with a detachable "road vehicle" custom designed for this exact purpose rather than just attaching wings to Detroit production cars as later inventors would do. However, when the vehicle part of the Airphibian was attached to it's airplane section, it looked more like a standard airplane rather than a flying car. 

After World War II, both Stout and Waterman worked on the ConVair Autoplane originally designed by Theodore P. Hall who sold his design to the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Company of Dearborn, Michigan.   This new design was quickly built and successfully flown around San Diego, California for over an hour making national news headlines.  This flight of the ConVair AutoPlane in 1947 was nearly it's last flight as well, as the AutoPlane prototype ran out of gas and crashed while approaching a runway several days later.  Because the bad news of the crash, the American "would-be-buyers" lost faith in the dream, and the company closed it's AutoPlane operations.  An original Autoplane model still exists today. 

In 1950, the Fulton Airphibian still in major development with many investors on board, became the first roadable aircraft to be certified by the FAA/Civil Aviation Administration, however because of the bad news that remained from the ConVAIR -Autoplane crash in 1947, the Airphibian Company was forced to close it's doors in 1953 with only 8 orders for their new production model.  Even though Airphibian had closed it doors, it didn't stop Molt Taylor's Aerocar development in 1959. After much success of his Aerocar, including national exposure and several prototype sales, Taylor received a deal to mass produce Aerocars from a Texas investor, if he could get 500 orders. Then a few months later in 1972, Molt received a visit from several Ford Motor Company executives who where considering Molt's flying car technology. 
But only 263 orders were received and mass production never happened.  The Aerocar became a collector's item and existing models still fly today. 

Nonetheless, the Airphibian (top left photo) and Aerocar (top right photo) were the only two flying cars to ever receive FAA certification in the Twentieth Century.  The largest problem with the "two piece" flying car design, (as far as most consumers are concerned) is the complicated and lengthy pre-flight conversion/assembly process.  Also performance while flying these cars is also limited due to the weight of heavy auto parts and road worthy frames.  Aside from their low speed performance, both the Airphibian and Aerocar are truly successful Flying Cars without a doubt.

 Paul Moller

In 1989- 1990, Paul Moller's new company, Moller International, made over 200, near-ground test flights of the 200X.   In 1997,  CarterCopter had many successful test flights with their new low-cost N/VTOL Gyro Copter  while Moller showed a prototype of the new M400.   In September of 1999, a new break-through in a low-cost, tilt-rotor VTOL by Xantus, made several successful test flights as well, while 2 months later, NASA announced it was joining the VTOL revolution momentum by teaming up with Millennium Jet to help test it's new "jet pack style" SoloTrek XFV, a single-person VTOL flying machine. The same company also released plans for a new single piece, flying car/VTOL called DuoTrek, using quad advanced tilt-rotors.  In 2000, Moller continued pre-flight adjustments on the M400, while Millennium Jet was wind tunnel testing with the SoloTrek XFV prototype with NASA engineers.

About The Above History Information

Although the first documented VTOL took flight in the early 1920's, many other related advancements including gyro coptors, helicopters, VTOL platforms, flying discs, levitation devices and Government VTOL and V/STOL crafts were also developed through-out the 20th Century. The above history outlines the pursuit of an "easy to fly, low-cost, low-noise VTOL for the masses."  A simple flying vehicle so Dad, Susie and Uncle Bob can fly to work, the mall or the doctors office without complicated training, controls and major expense.  The development of this great American goal continues today, and success is in the air....

A Review Of The Flying Cars Of Today.
January 7th, 2001

It's clear that flying cars have been around for a while, and as we celebrated the year 2001, there was an estimated 12 to 18 flying cars and prototypes still in existence that were all capable of flying!  (Although some may have needed a little oil, starting fluid and a couple of cans of Liquid Pledge!)  As for the first truly mass produced flying car that almost was in the last century, you can be 100% assured it will finally happen in this one!  They certainly will not be in the price range for everyone, (nor even be desired by everyone) but for the people or professionals who need them, or plain and simply can't live without one, they'll finally become available at a local dealer near you, as you fly away toward your first flying car adventure!  (That is if you passed your manufactures flight training test and received your personal VTOL transportation operators license)  Don't worry though, these new tests will be much easier than today's pilot requirements, which by the way, will remain in effect should you want to fly a standard commercial winged aircraft.

The Birth Of A Long Awaited New Industry

With today's surging VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) R&D activity, including a world GPS navigational flight grid system that has the directional accuracy of 150 billionths of a second, (already tested, in place and operating), light weight, super strength metals and composites, powerful compact engines, computer aided design programs, low-cost super computers, advanced wind tunnel testing facilities and over 100 years of flight records and data to draw upon, I would say the flying car and new VTOL Research and development revolution will be documented in future history books as being in "Full Swing" at the turn of the new Millennium.  Even the US Government Transportation and Aviation Organizations are working on massive new SATS/VTOL commuter vehicle systems and regional zoned "Vertiports" that will transport millions of people during the years ahead, including updated regulations that will allow personal, 1 to 8 seat, flying vehicles to land in approved locations (Including your driveway) as long as your flying vehicle meets noise, safety, proximity and navigational regulations, which coincidentally almost became a reality, when the US Department Of Transportation planned for mass public use of personal helicopters at the end of World War II, but was canceled because of the high maintenance designs and loud engine noise that was clearly much less controllable 50 years ago then it is today.

Why This Re-emerging Industry Is Guaranteed To Succeed.

When the US Government and private industries work together on new technologies and advanced civil or public projects, history tells us that innovation and productivity become accelerated to all time levels, providing immediate results and new technology advancements.  It's true that our current over-logged airports have occasional mid-air collisions, yet those types of events are due to the old flight pattern procedures and guidance systems that are constantly being improved and updated on a daily basis.  As far as flying cars with detachable 40' foot wings spans are concerned, we believe they'll remain in history as the original inspirational links to today's micro-winged flying cars and "wingless" VTOL's. Surely we will see many independent flying car models, unique helicopters and advanced ultralight VTOL's that can be ordered like a customized automobile or exotic show car.  Aviation hobbyists and flying car enthusiast's will always be in search for the next new flying machine, but once they've been approved and perfected for ease of public use, every high-end consumer will be standing in line--and many already are!...

We're not just looking forward to several new Flying Car/VTOL basement inventors who will be out impressing the public with their new flying machines, rather an entire new industry based in a Nation that has always been a pioneer in the aviation and transportation industries with an unsurpassed spirit of leadership stemming from the birth place of the world's greatest, inventors, engineers and risk takers of all time.  Where would America be today if Waldo Waterman would have listened to the people who said that his new all metal plane would be to heavy to fly and that he should just stay with the wood and cloth design?                                
                                                                                                                                

  THE XANTUS,   
LOW-COST  
VTOL  

Currently In    
Test-Flight   
Operations    

This new Xantus VTOL, powered-lift aircraft is a four passenger, gearless tilt-prop design which is able to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, yet is able to cruise near 300 MPH.  This one-of- a-kind, low-cost VTOL was initially intended for kit-built applications, yet may soon become a mass produced "VTOL Taxi" used for the new "Vertiport Landing Pads" that will soon be located in hundreds of downtown city and metro locations through-out the USA as suggested by the FAA to reduce highway traffic congestion while increasing travel speeds for city-to-city and city-to-suburb commuters.  Shown without engine covers in place.  Designed and built in metro Detroit Michigan.

THE DUOTREK
QUAD TURBO/VTOL

Currently in R&D

A new development from Millennium Jet uses 4 new design turbo-tilt rotors that provide lift and vertical thrust. This ultimate 2-seat, futuristic VTOL, the DuoTrek, uses 2 engines to provide front and rear tilt-rotor power and includes full parachute backups and intelligent controls.

THE HIGH SPEED,
6-SEAT, VTOL
TILT-ROTOR

 

Currently in R&D

Say hello to the first-class, 6-seat VTOL from Kulikov Aircraft Company. The all-new KA007 (model shown above without window placement) is currently under R&D for a solid runner in the new VTOL renaissance. What does this great new flying machine mean? How about a trip from the Downtown Chicago, IL SATS VTOL vertiport to the Detroit, Michigan's Vertiport in less than 90 minutes!  And that includes no long lines at the major airports, baggage delays, parking, traffic, etc. Number of Seats - 6; Payload - 1,220 lbs; Fuel - 780 lbs; Gross Weight - 4,000 lbs; Maximum Thrust - 6,000 lbs; Speed - 375 kts / 431 mph. Range; Endurance - 4 hrs, based on 10 minutes of hover with a total flight coverage of 1,600 miles. This VTOL design also makes for a great emergency rescue/ambulance vehicle and is capable of conventional runway take-offs and landings.