Flying cars take car photography to new heights
Aerial shots haven’t been a real significant part of the car photograph industry up to now, but a couple of nearly-ready-to-launch models could change that.
And launch is a pretty fair description in this case.
The American-made Terrafugia Transition flying car — yes, that’s what we said — already has folks at the New York Auto Show talking, and the Dutch-built PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) is taxiing up right behind it.
This is truly a case where a picture is worth a thousand words — the video of the PAL-V is not to be missed.
The Transition, cleared for takeoff last year by the National Highway Safety Administration, is the closest to retail availability, according to a report in PCMag.com
The two-seat “street-legal airplane,” the article says, runs on unleaded gas and, with its wings folded up, fits right in on highways. When it banks into the sky, though, it’s capable of flying at 1,400 feet, as it proved during a test flight out of Plattsburgh, N.Y.
The PAL-V, meantime, is more like a mini-helicopter.
With a flight range of up to 315 miles, it tops out around 110 mph by land or by air — and it handles like a motorcycle on the ground, its makers claim.
While potential PAL-V buyers will have to wait until it clears some more regulatory hurdles, Terrafugia Transition’s promoters are already accepting $10,000 on their $279,000 machine, PCMag reports.
“We appear to be entering a Golden Age of sorts for automobiles that double as aircraft,” the article says.
Sounds like fun to us. Contact us for your marketing efforts — we don’t get airsick.
Related story: 12 Flying Cars That Paved the Way
