'Flying Saucers' to Go On Sale Soon

gihan_ripper writes "Perhaps the ultimate nerd acquisition, the flying car, is to go on sale in a few months. Speaking to the BBC, the inventor Dr Paul Moller described his creation, dubbed the Flying Saucer, as a VTOL aircraft designed to hover at 10 ft. above the ground. The flying saucer has eight engines and is expected to sell for $90,000. Dr Moller expects to produce a successor within six years, a 'Skycar' capable of a climb rate of 6000 ft./min. and an airspeed of 400 mph."

at least 20 years old

[Dusthead Jr.]

I saw this and previous veriations on this way back in 1987 on a tech show called Beyond 2000. 20 years later and still a prototype.

With Moller...

[Merk]

I'll believe it when I can actually buy one. Much as I'd like a flying car, his always seem to be "Real Soon Now(TM)" AFAIK, Moller has never actually had anything for sale. Downside(R) lists his company as a scam [downside.com] because it has been a few years from production for 30 years. There have also been SEC complaints [sec.gov] for "fraudulent, unregistered offering and the filing of a fraudulent Form 10-SB by Moller International, Inc. ("MI" or "the company"), a California company engaged in the development of a personal aircraft known as "the Skycar.""

I'd like to be wrong, but I sure won't be putting down any money just yet.

Why aren't these stories ever critical?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The Skycar has been in the works for decades with barely anything to show for it. There are too many stories that just talk about the positive future that it supposedly represents when it's been a boondoggle so far. There was even action against Moller by the SEC.

WRONG PICTURE!

[Jane Q. Public]

There is nothing new about this except the proposed release date... this item has been in widely-advertised development for many years. Further, the picture accompanying the article is not of the Flying Saucer. That is a picture of the Sky Car. That one is not being released yet (and may never be).

Re:Back to the future 2!!

[Lisandro]

I always thought the flying cars thing in BTTF 2 were a bit tongue in cheek; in fact, the whole representation of the future was meant to be humorous. I still laugh when i hear Doc Brown's comparison of the meteorological and postal services in the future ;)

Re:Back to the future 2!!

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Moller has been saying something to the effect of "in five years" for the last fourty years. Every story on this guy, his project and the ideal that it supposedly represents bugs me. This BBC story digs up the most dirt that I've seen from this kind of story so far, and that's just "it's not yet approved by the FAA". That's because it probably will never be approved. As far as I'm concerned, stories like this only aid this scammer. The SEC had sued Moller - the same SEC that's been on their duffs over SCO's pump and dump scheme, if that gives you any indication of how bad it is.

Re:Back to the future 2!!

[mcrbids]

Hey, we just might get our flying cars. But they won't be coming from this guy. (See below for the bazillion posts of SCAM SCAM SCAM - this guy's been at it for years.

But there is a ray of light on the horizon, in the form of a real, honest-to-gosh flying car [com.com].

As a private pilot, I'm so hoping so hoping so hoping that this one actually works out! Light plane aviation has a number of problems:

1) Getting from your house to the plane is a hassle - the plane's at an airport, you have to park your car, leaving your car for very long can be expensive, you need a ride in a cab, etc.

2) Weather is a BIATCH. You plan a flight a week in advance, and then you get thunderstorms hitting right where you wanted to land. Small planes don't do nearly as well as the big jets in bad weather.

3) Hassle at the other end: Once you've landed, you're more or less stuck without a rental car. And in many smaller airports, that's a pain. Rental car agencies will deliver a rental car, but that doesn't make much sense when the nearest rental is 45 minutes away.

4) Parking - who wants to pay hundreds of dollars a month for what amounts to a garage that happens to be next to the tarmac at the airport?

The MIT "folding wings" car would solve all these problems:

1) Drive it to the airport.

2) If the weather gets too bad to fly, land at the nearest airport and drive the rest of the way.

3) Once you've landed, you fold wings and drive to your destination on surface streets.

4) At home, you park it in your garage!

All this for about $100,000?!?!?! Hell yes I'd buy one!

Dupe!

[valentyn]

Well, joking. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/01/014821 0 [slashdot.org] had an article about the first skycar being for sale, but the rebuttals for their technology are to be found in the comments, http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=163945&cid=136 93215 [slashdot.org] and http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=163945&cid=136 92203 [slashdot.org] for example (but the others make a good read as well).

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[account_deleted]

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Don't forget 400mph

[A nonymous Coward]

400mph is the speed of fighters near the end of WW II. Anything going 400mph is not designed for vertical operation, not even close. It's using wings for lift at that speed and 6000 fpm climb is not out of the question.

Now whether he can actually go 400 mph ... I'll believe it when it flies, not from press releases.

Moller is the ultimate carny

[blueZ3]

I swear this guy puts P.T. Barnum to shame.

"Dr." Paul Moller has been promising to sell his skycar "in a few years" since the 70's. When I first saw something about his concept (in a late-70's Pop Sci, as I recall) it looked pretty interesting. At the time (almost 30 years ago) Moller was promising these "soon." But as time has gone by it's become clearer and clearer that the only thing that Moller is selling is old-fashioned snake-oil and the only folks he's selling to are the gullible.

If you look at what he's offering for sale "soon" you'll see that it's not the long-promised skycar, it's a flying saucer type craft that looks like something out of a Mario Party minigame. Seriously, it looks like four weed-whacker engines in a fiberglass shell molded from an old Texaco sign.

Re:Don't forget 400mph

[GooberToo]

Here is a link to a new breed of jet (VLJ) [eclipseaviation.com]. The jet is very small. It has TWO JET ENGINES. It seems it has a climb rate of 3400fpm on a good day, lightly loaded (meaning light fuel and pilot). The jet can carry a maximum of five people. It's a tiny jet. It has a pretty good power to weight ratio.

It is impossible for him to see 6000fpm off of ducted fan picton engines. The power to weight ratio simply does not exist for him to get out of ground effect let alone climb at 6000fpm. I'm sorry, but the engine technology simply does not exist.

If he can make something that hits 250MPH with a climb rate of 2000fpm, I'd be very impressed. But the mileage he has always toughted would be impossible because he'd have to do it on a tiny turbine and economy would become complete crap; especially down low where his target altitudes are at. To fly where the jet enignes starts to reach peak effeciency, you have to be an instrument rated pilot. Again, that's counter to every claim he's made about his target audience.

So unless he is changing everything he has ever claimed and going off to build a jet, then what he is saying is 100% bullshit, even with the best of wishful thinking.