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back to article Flying car gets helpful road-kit weight exemption from feds

The Terrafugia Transition, closest thing to a flying car yet built, has received a unique exemption from the US government allowing production models to be 110 pounds heavier than a normal "light sport aircraft". This will permit the car/plane combo to satisfy safety requirements when driving on roads. The Terrafugia …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    light sport aircraft

    Maybe they should have went to one of Britains light weight car specialists to get it really light.

    Paris 'cause it's such an intelligent comment

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    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      A Light weight Idea.....

      They could strap wings onto a Reliant Robin fitted with a propeller. That should work out fine.

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      1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Grenade

        Re (flying) Reliant Robin

        There was one already though a bit short on the safety side. Remeber the rocket-propelled Robin (Top Gear, some years ago)?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    translate terrafugia?

    Hmm ... in the spirit of franglais then with the latin "fuga" meaning "flight" this surely any one with the remnants of a "proper education" can read this as....

    "terra-fugia" == "terror-flight"

    ... not quite what they intened

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    1. Andy Watt
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      translate....?

      Hmmm. I've got a reasonably proper education behind me, but it doesn't include any latin.

      However, even I know that

      terra != terror

      Bit feeble that one.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Er, what?

      I may be wrong, but wouldn't anyone with a "proper" education translate "terra" as "Land" or "earth", not terror?

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    3. CD001
      Reply Icon

      *sighs*

      Anyone with the remnants of a proper education would just read it as "ground flight" or maybe "earth flight" - though that's with "fuga" of course - slightly more amusingly is if you put "fugia" into Google translate, then you get "fleeing" (in Catalan).

      Terrafugia - ground fleeing?

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    4. Richard Jukes
      Reply Icon

      translate terrafugia

      "Hmm ... in the spirit of franglais then with the latin "fuga" meaning "flight" this surely any one with the remnants of a "proper education" can read this as....

      "terra-fugia" == "terror-flight"

      ... not quite what they intened"

      Anyone with the remnants of a 'correct education' would tell you that fugia does indeed mean 'flee' in Latin, however terra does NOT mean terror. It means 'earth' or 'ground'.

      So Ground flight/earth flight, or just some combination of ground and flight, thus its a good name!

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  3. Matt 13
    Thumb Up

    cool, but...

    its the fugliest thing I have ever laid my eyes on!!!

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    1. Misoriented
      Reply Icon
      Headmaster

      Well, of course

      After all, anyone with the remnants of a proper education knows that "fuga" is "fugly" in Latin.

      So clearly, "terra-fugia" == "terribly-fugly"

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  4. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Heart

    I want, I want

    I want !!!!!

    1 1
  5. OzBob
    Troll

    If the CERN LHC finds the anti-gravity particle,...

    will they become collector items (like beta-max, Laser Disc and HD-DVD?)

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  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    Quite mad, and yet somehow quite brilliant.

    Thumbs up.

    BTW what do "Prices start at.."

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    1. Richard Morris
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      I suspect that........

      ............ if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

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    2. Fred Bauer 1
      Reply Icon

      Price "estimate" is

      $194,000. $10,000 to reserve one. Yah, I can't afford it.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Flying Car?

    Not knocking it at all, I think it's great, but it's not really a flying car is it? It's an aircraft that's capable of being driven on the road.

    Now as eny fule know a Fraud Mondeo is not a very capable off road vehicle, but it is very capable on the road. A Landrover is not the best at dealing with a twisty ribbon of tarmac at speed, but it is cracking in the dirt. Yes you can adapt a 4x4 to be a good road car, but the better it gets on road the worse it gets off it. And the same is true of taking a road car onto the dirt. In the end you get something that's OK in both environments, but not outstanding in either.

    Likewise I bet this thing doesn't fly as well as a normal plane, nor will it drive as well as a normal car. That's only to be expected, but I hope that it has been biased towards airworthyness at the expense of roadworthyness. After all you wouldn't want to have to deal with too many compromises at 12,000 feet. If your softroader can't get up a bank because it's roady tyres won't grip the mud it's not the end of the world, the flying equivalent wouldn't be so easy to laugh off.

    Paris? I'm sure she could do it in any environment.

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  8. andy gibson

    Terror Flight?

    Maybe, if "Terra" didn't mean Earth.

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  9. Max_Normal

    Dear AC, do you mean formidonis-fugia?

    BTW, I used my impressive classical education to navigate to an online translator.

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  10. BossHog
    Boffin

    Well and good, but...

    I want one with anti-gravity pods that crackle with static! And gullwing doors!

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  11. disgruntled yank

    Oshkosh, by gosh!

    You wouldn't write "LonDon" would you?

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  12. Retired Geek
    Thumb Up

    Here's a link to a video

    http://www.wimp.com/flyingcar/

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