Terrafugia Transition flying car cost

The Fifth Element has always been on my list of best all time movies with Bruce Willis and his flying car.Lately in the news is another flying car getting ready to be commercialised,and i cant help but think about life imitating art.There have been a few flying car concepts in the past that didnt go mainstream or made us fetch our checkbooks.The Terrafugia Transition flying car is the first that seems promising enough to go to the next step.

Here at Dement,id like to analyse the practicality and cost angle of owning a flying car.Keeping aside the cost of purchase which is a major expenditure to begin with,and which would scare off most of us initally is just the tip of things.With the unpredictability of rising gas costs that even the best gas cards cant ressurect us from,how economical will it be in the long run to own this plane-car.One advantage of  the Transition engine is its ability to burn gasoline instead of jet fuel.Here is a tabulated snapshot of some key specs of the Terrafugia Transition.

It consumes 5 gallons per hour when cruising and gives us 35 miles per gallon on the road.With an average cost of $3.5 per gallon,its going to cost us $17.5 per hour in the air.In all probability,our destination will be less than an hours commute,because it can cover 105 miles in an hour,which is alot of ground covered.Perfect for rush hour.On the road it will cost a mere $1 for every mile run,owing to its tiny 1430 pound frame,which is ridiculously reasonable.Now one might think,if someone can afford to splash out $279,000 on this little toy,he wouldn’t bother about a few dollars burnt on gas right? Lets remember that this is only the beginning of things to come,the first in line of many.If this does become a commercial success,cheaper variants will lure the middle class.

As a nobody novice flying car blog poster,do i think it will succeed?Terrafugia claims they already have 100 pre orders in the pipeline.I was curious to know who is  behind this adventure or (mis) if u will.Browsing through the list of co founders and founding team members of  Terrafugia, i noticed each one of them had a slew of qualifications longer than most of our addresses. As a fellow engineer and avid trekkie i was impressed tht most of them had PHDs et al in Aeronautics/Astronautics from MIT.I thought to myself, these guys are the smartest on the planet, its people like this that will invent the space warp someday.Life imitiating art, imitating life.

Carl Dietrich,CEO Terrafugia

Anna Dietrich,COO Terrafugia

Co-founders-Samuel Schweighart,Carl Dietrich,Anna Dietrich

\\// LLAP