The world’s first flying car

Have you ever sat in a long traffic jam for hours, frustrated at the green fields, perhaps clear roads and open space that often lies just to the side of you – while you’re stuck in the long thin line of metal - burning petrol needlessly, still, as even in the best family car?

Or perhaps you’ve gone a little further than this and thought “if only my car could fly – even just a few feet in the air and I‘d be at my destination in minutes”?

Of course, this is just science-fiction fantasy isn’t it?

Well yes it is for the time being, but the reality of the flying car may be much closer than you think.

For one cold morning back in March 2009, a retired US Air Force pilot made history by flying the “Transition” aircraft for the first time.

Since then, this vehicle with the potential to fly has been under development by the manufacturers, Terrafugia of Woburn, Massachusetts, USA. The Transition has undergone a series of test flights to demonstrate the viability of the vehicle that can fly and which can drive quite legally on the road.

A dream come true perhaps? Well yes it is for a few proud owners.

The Transition has the ability to fold away its wings then drive on any surface road. Also, stowage of the wings for road use (and then deploying them for flight at the airport) can be activated from inside the cockpit; a true flight-road hybrid car.

OK, we may be a way off the perfect ideal of being able to get airborne quickly and easily whenever you feel the need, but the Transition demonstrates that the potential future of the car-cum-aeroplane is not some distant science fiction dream, but far more real.