Another Try for an Old Idea

I can’t exactly say that I was disappointed when I saw a news item about a “flying car” on one of the news aggregation sites. Flying cars have become a meme over the last decade or so, and there will be at least one mention of something that might be one, or a snarky reference to some flashy (but ultimately pointless) piece of technology that ends with the question “Where’s my flying car?” in the news each month. Most of these turn out to be vague rumors about something that might happen in ten or fifteen years if a currently unproven technology turns out to have legs, or something that has already failed to catch on multiple times before. Although this week’s story may ultimately turn out to be both…

We should probably note that flying cars, or “roadable” airplanes, have been around for at least seventy years at this point, and if you actually care I could show you both contemporary accounts and advertising pieces about models actually offered for sale at various points. Most of these projects ultimately fail, either because the vehicle in question is too expensive to afford, because it is too hard to operate, or because it is too hard to get permission to operate from the applicable Federal, state, or local laws. A flying car that you can’t use without first obtaining a (very expensive) private pilot’s license, or that you can’t fly from where you live or to anywhere that you’d want to go, isn’t going to be much of a draw as a consumer product…

In this particular case, the new entry into the field isn’t a new technology or even a new concept. Fans of James Bond movies are already familiar with it, and so is anyone who has ever studied the history of experimental aircraft in or out of the movies. The PAL-V Liberty, made by a Dutch company of the same name, is actually a gyroplane, or auto gyro. If you’re not familiar with the term, imagine a small propeller-driven airplane with an unpowered rotor instead of a conventional airfoil. It can take off and land on much shorter airstrips than a conventional airplane, and a skilled pilot can actually land one like a helicopter, although the leadership at PAL-V describes it as being more like landing a parachute or paraglider…

Now, I’m not saying that the Liberty and similar craft don’t have potential, because they absolutely do. The gyroplane was a competing technology to both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in the early 20^th Century, and its lack of acceptance had more to do with lower top speeds and problems with its public image than with its safety or V/STOL capabilities. Advocates of the type claim, with some justification, that it is safer to operate than comparable fixed-wing aircraft, and more efficient than comparable helicopters. But anyone who wants to keep one in the garage and just fly to work is going to be disappointed to learn that gyroplanes and their pilots are regulated, certified and licensed by the FAA just like any other light airplane…

The unfortunate fact is that flying cars, or at least the kind that anybody can get into and fly around any time or place they like, are a terrible idea. The next time you’re out on the road and you see someone driving like an idiot (and you will) imagine them travelling two or three times faster and crashing into the side of somebody’s house if they take their eyes off of what they are doing – and who’s even mentioned flying while texting or flying while under the influence yet?

I’m glad to see the humble gyroplane getting a new lease on life, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing more of them in use over the next few years, at least if PAL-V is as successful as they’re hoping to be. But anybody who is looking for the mythical flying car had best keep on walking…