When changing from an airplane to a car, the wings just fold inward, the rear wheels pivot forward, and the front wheels pivot backward. When flying in the air, the Silver Airbus is driven by two braking horsepower of 160, and needs refueling when flying 1000 miles (about 1609 kilometers). When landing on the ground, designer Milner Motors said that a pair of main wings with a width of 28 feet (about 8.5 meters) were folded and located at the back of the car, while the other pair of winglets were folded and located at the front of the car. The size of the car is similar to that of Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. It is driven by a single 40-horsepower diesel engine with a top speed of 85 mph (about 136 km/h).
There are two LCD computer screens in the air car, which can normally display the driving information in air mode and ground mode. Drivers can use the traditional steering wheel to operate in car and airplane modes. Designer Milner said that on the basis of Airbus, we are developing all-electric vehicles, thus reducing the cost of manufacturing Airbus. This means that we can mass-produce parts suitable for both modes of transportation. Motos and Milner from Vancouver, Canada claim to have built an Airbus that can operate in air mode. They expect its price to be about 250,000 pounds. Rafi Yoeli has successfully driven a "flying car" that is still in the research and development stage, three feet above the ground, and hopes to launch the X-Hawk flying car for the international market before 20 10. Although his dream seems out of reach, Bell Helicopters, a subsidiary of Textron Inc, took this idea seriously and jointly developed X-Hawk with Urban Aeronautics, a private company founded by Joyeli.
X-Hawk looks like an advanced space vehicle in appearance, with streamlined design, cockpit driver's seat and two fans protruding from the back of the plane. A standard-sized flight simulator of X-Hawk is currently located at the headquarters of the city airline in the central Israeli city of Yafnai. Joyeli regards X-Hawk and Mule as trucks to a great extent, which can rush into dangerous places of fighting and terrorist activities in the rain of bullets, transport rescue workers and materials, and evacuate people in danger urgently. According to the introduction of City Airlines, like helicopters of similar size, the X-Hawk can also take off and land vertically, with a speed of 1.55 miles per hour and a maximum flying height of1.20,000 feet, and can fly in the air for about two hours without interruption.
X-Hawk's enclosed fan will replace the enclosed rotor. Due to the need to fly away from walls, wires and ridges, the closed rotor makes it impossible for helicopters to maneuver effectively in urban areas or narrow natural terrain. In addition, X-Hawk also has a set of by-wire control system, which provides pure lateral control through the blades located at the upper and lower parts of the propeller duct, making the aircraft more stable. According to City Airlines, X-Hawk can fly sideways to the building. Janina frankl-Joeri, the company's vice president in charge of marketing, said that the X- Hawk is lighter and more concealed than a helicopter. However, due to the small diameter of the rotating shaft, the fuel consumption of the X-Hawk is 50% higher than that of the helicopter.
Joyeli has been developing X-Hawk and Mule prototypes since 2000. Flatt said that the terrorist attacks in new york on September 1 2006 made "VTOL aircraft popular." He said: "The military gradually understood that they must also be in urban warfare. In this way, we will target the UAV with reconnaissance capability. Obviously, our next step is to look forward to the emergence of aircraft that can provide practical rescue in urban areas as soon as possible. "
Mule, which is scheduled to carry two wounded people, is expected to sell for $654.38+$5,000, while ten civilian X-Hawks used for rescue missions, public utilities or transporting company executives are expected to sell for about $3.5 million. In addition, the military X-Hawk, which can carry 12 people and is equipped with more advanced devices, is expected to cost $6 million. Both Tatro and Flatt said that the cost estimate of the military X- Hawk may be low. Joyeli estimates that the prototype of unmanned mule can be launched in two to three years and put into production in five years. According to Joyeli's plan, the manned X-Hawk will complete its first flight in 2009 and go on the market eight years later. He hopes that the final annual sales volume of X-Hawk will be 250 to 300, while the total global helicopter sales volume is only 2,000. Since 1999, we have been developing this flying car for the public. In 2006, we launched the concept car. Now the prototype car has come out in the Netherlands and is about to start mass production. This flying car is like a three-wheeled motor vehicle on land, with a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour; In the air, just like the small rotorcraft piloted by sean connery in the 007 series movie Thunder Valley, the top speed is190km/h.
The secret of a flying car is hidden in its top and tail. The top foldable impeller can adjust the rotating speed to control the flying height; The propeller at the tail is responsible for providing forward power; The patented automatic balancing device assembled at the tail can ensure that the flying car automatically tilts when turning. Such a simple set of flying equipment can ensure that the flying car accelerates from a static state to 90 kilometers per hour in 5 seconds. Take-off taxi runs 50 meters, landing taxi runs less than 5 meters, and it can fly to the highest altitude of 1200 meters, and it can fly about 550 kilometers at a time with full oil. Unfortunately, the flying car can only be used by one person for the time being.
Experts who develop flying cars say that this car is specially designed for the public, and the target customers are office workers who are troubled by traffic jams. John Barker, the inventor of the flying car, said: "Ever since Henry Ford invented the Model T Ford, people began to dream of driving an open-air vehicle one day, and this dream finally came true 90 years later." Barker said that in countries and regions with imperfect infrastructure, flying cars are safer and faster than ordinary means of transportation; In developed areas, it can save people a lot of time in traffic jams. Designers believe that when flying cars are officially listed, the price will not be much more expensive than luxury cars. For those who want to drive a flying car and have a driver's license, they only need 10 to 20 hours of training to get an amateur flight license. Automakers expect it to play a greater role in the future, such as emergency services and commercial supervision. They plan to build 60 helipads in the Netherlands to meet future demand.
Flying cars use environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient land-air engines. This kind of engine uses unleaded gasoline from ordinary cars, which are sold at ordinary roadside gas stations. Not only that, the car's internal control system is also integrated with land and air. On the ground, the slender flying car is as comfortable as a luxury car and more dexterous than an ordinary car, because the patented balance system ensures its dexterity; In the air, because the flying altitude is lower than that of commercial flights, the drivers of flying cars do not have to submit flight reports to the relevant departments in advance (many foreign countries have liberalized air control, such as the United States, where air control is less below 3,000 meters, and some countries in Western Europe are also below 2,000 meters, 1500 meters). The folding rotor of a flying car can ensure the safety of driving and landing. Different from ordinary helicopters, the impeller of flying cars can rotate in the air only by aerodynamic force. Even if the engine fails in the air, the impeller at the top can continue to rotate, so that the flying car can land smoothly instead of falling suddenly. The car is equipped with GPS, radar, computer automatic control system and satellite control technology, which can also ensure its safety in the air to the maximum extent. In the workshop of Xi Allianz Aviation Technology Co., Ltd., I saw flying cars that were still being produced. A flying car has a flat round head with LED lights on both sides of the head, rotors on the top and tail, and four wheels on the chassis, which can accommodate two people indoors. The steering wheel and seat used by the flying car are exactly the same as those of the F 1 racing car, and the seats are made of FRP. The external materials of flying cars are carbon fiber and high strength titanium alloy.
The weight of the whole flying car is 450kg, the rotor length is 8.4m, and the length, width and height in driving mode are 4.6m, 2.0m and 1.46m respectively. Its maximum takeoff weight is 600 kg, its maximum cruising speed can reach 180km/h, its two-wheel drive speed is 120 km/h, it is equipped with a 70-liter fuel tank, and it can fly for 3~4 hours using ordinary 97# leaded or unleaded gasoline.