It has been a while since Swany referenced the personal flying car, so I hunted around and I found this on an old web page, and checked on sales, production, availability.
After searching through the website, I discovered you could buy miscellaneous trinkets (hot wheels replicas, key chains, license plate holders, stickers) of the production model, from $5 to $25.
If you want to actually buy the car, here are the criteria for you to be put on the waiting list.
M400 Skycar Deposit Information
Deposit is refundable until after a successful transitioning flight has occurred. Thereafter deposits are refundable only if Final Delivery Price exceeds List Price (as adjusted for CPI-W) by 5%, OR Standard Equipment List has been shortened OR Guaranteed Performance Specifications are not met, OR FAA Certification Date of the M400 Skycar occurs after December 31, 2008 or a Purchase Agreement is executed prior to FAA certification.
Your required deposit amount is as follows:
Delivery Position - Minimum Deposit - Amount List Price
25-100 - $100,000 - $995,000
101-200 - $25,000 - $750,000
201-500 - $10,000 - $500,000
Performance Specifications & Equipment List
- Guaranteed PerformancePassengers 4
- Maximum speed 375 MPH
- Cruise speed (20,000 ft.) 275 MPH
- Range 750 Miles
- Size Large automobile
- Best mileage approx. 20 MPG
- Useful payload 750 lbs
- Can hover with one engine failed
- Uses non-fossil fuel (ethanol)
- Certification DateNot later than December 31, 2008
So, if you got some bling, you can reserve your own, with the caveate that they certify it by Dec. 31, 2008. OR, you can go out, get 494 other people (other than the 6 of us, because i know you would all sign up if we can get the discount), and buy in bulk. Yeah, right.
A couple downfalls as i see it now:
- Only 4 people. Several large guys at 2 bills a piece, the fourth guy looses a leg before getting in the car for the flight. You may just have to wrestle for it. Loser loses a limb, period.
- 20 MPG on ethanol fuel- what is this, a mid-size SUV in Iowa? Just when you build up speed on your way from Des Moines to the Field of Dreams at 20,000 feet, you have to quickly descend and stop and find an ethanol pump and fill up again.
- If one engine goes, how long before the second goes? And how many test flights did they do with one engine failing? Do they expect an engine to fail? Is that the best way to pitch a product. You think they give you the confidence interval of one or two standard deviations on this when you buy it?
- If you have that much money, why not just buy some tickets on the X3 (or whatever the next personal space craft is called in the X race), and go along with Richard Branson on the maiden flight of the space tourist vehicle, while listening to one of his artists from Virgin Records on an Video Ipod.
Oh well, some day they will figure this out so its affordable and safe. Until then, i'm stuck with my mid-size SUB that only gets 16 MPG on regular fuel. Maybe i should try ethanol...
1 comment:
Or maybe you can try vegetable oil. I recall reading an article in the New York Times about how some people are modifying their diesel engines to burn vegetable oil. Rather than filling up at the gas station, they head over to their local CostCo and stock up on boxes of canola oil. Used oil from deep fat fryers apparently work, too, after being filtered.
As far as flying cars, I'm still afraid of heights. I'll save my money and buy a Bugatti Veyron instead.
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