There’s been a flying car at Oshkosh just about every year i can remember. I don’t get it. It’s a bad car combined with a bad airplane. It’s like a lawnmower refrigerator combo.
Yep it’ll go bankrupt just like all the other ones and disappear and then new ones will show up that are horrible cars and also horrible airplanes. Now the auto Giro motorcycle looks like it actually would be fun. Looks like a decent autogiro and a decent motorcycle wouldn’t replace a car anything but it would be fun and actually would be something that someone would buy. I think it will be the only successful one of the group.
In the Long-EZ, I'd fly mild cross wind landings wing low, and stronger cross wind landings half crab and half wing low. The Switchblade looks like it's crab only.
That looks like it has three wheels. For the USA that legally makes it a motorcycle. That saves a lot of weight. Motorcycles don't require bumpers, airbags, and some other safety equipment required.
While the big ducted fan in the first design looked cool and I am a bit sad to see it go, I understand why it needed to go and definitely think this new design is a much better choice. It is also much more realistic looking and protects all flight propellers and wings/surfaces from damage or theft. The transformation features also make the Switchblade look more like a regular car while on the road, which reduces the chance that other people or police officers you pass will want to pay attention to your vehicle while on the road. Overall, I believe this is an excellent design and I am all for it, as long as the company will be able to stay on schedule with production and not have to delay several years because the airframe must be recertified. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to being a future customer! :)
I built and own an experimental amphib. (A hybrid plane/boat). So am open to that kind of idea. However, this one doesn’t look feasible or practical. Best of luck.
I agree, savings on hanger rent will probably go towards insurance. And what company will want to cover it? Complex maintenance with the folding wings and hybrid power system. The test flight program will probably reveal additional issues. Will probably be the most complex kit plane and complex manufacturing as well.
I've been a sucker for the flying car since Popular Mechanics articles in the early 1970s, but the concept has been around since there were cars and airplanes. It's a bit of a white whale. Technology keeps improving so theoretically that nut will be cracked sometime, but it's been a long time coming.
Seems way too complex, both for manufacture and risk of failure. Just look at the unfolding tail, that's cray cray. Why have the long nose instead of a static tail. Configuration a bit like Aptera, smaller wheels, maybe narrow airless. Presumably driving will be minimal, only to and from so it doesn't have to be a great driver. Forward seating, static tail. Flip out wings under the body with telescopic extra stage. Keep it super light because that helps everything. Pusher ducted fan, modest diameter, no gearing, running fairly high rpm say 5k. Doesn't have to be optimal at either but a good workable mix. If it needs fairly high take off speed because the wing is small, that's fine. Keep it light, keep it simple.
But then you are wasting power because the duted fan motor is always running. Plus, police officers might stop you if you are running a propeller on public roads. No other cars on the road have propellers because they pose hazards to pedestrians and children who may be crossing the street, even if permanently shrouded. I haven't read any laws that explicitly prohibited the use of propellers on public streets and roadways, but that doesn't mean it's not implied.
Plus, it's important to remember that all cars have to be worthy of withstanding collisions in order to meet safety standards, especially here in the United States. If someone crashes into your Switchblade from the rear, they may dislocate the ducted propeller and get themselves killed when the rotor blades come slicing through their windshield. And even if they don't, all you need is one person to file a complaint regarding the safety hazards you pose to other drivers and pedestrians by running your propellers on the street, and you may be ticketed.
@@hydroworldoutlook5769 hehe, with small diameter, well ducted and modestly shrouded I'm not sure that's the part that will stand out in traffic. At idle and low speed driving it should be quite docile. Of course you could make a clutch for it but elegant if you didn't need to. There would be no real waste by it. Say it's a 100HP config at 5500rpm, for city stop and go it might be 5kW power and quite close to idle power. deep duct and a grate you can't even see it. aint no thang. just a big engine cooler :) I did a bit of calculation with GPT, ungeared at 5500rpm then 80cm diameter fan is appropriate. (31.5inches). Shouldn't look too hazardous. An Aptera with a ducted fan and small skinny wheels. People would buy it and it's not too hard to make.
I don’t feel like it’s a scam late stage it’ll make ownership much more affordable when you factor in savings from hangaring etc. especially if you like in a VHCOL Area.
While I'm all for flying cars, I do fear that air taxis are more realistic and will come out on top in the end. They can carry more people and hence can be more efficient than any flying car owned by a single individual.
Failed? Peter Muller didn't fail. Just because his design hasn't been physically built yet doesn't mean he's failed. I think he still has a good chance. His thrusters are way better and much safer and much more efficient than any open propeller.
I think this is an interesting idea. It’s the best car/plane concept that I’ve seen so far. But what really want to see is electrodynamic technology used in an automobile context. Cars that can hover and fly quietly. Using the roads but riding several feet off the ground and higher for longer trips.
While I'm all for flying cars, I do fear that air taxis are more realistic and will come out on top in the end. They can carry more people and hence can be more efficient than any flying car owned by a single individual.
We just need large stable safe drone style design….. we have to Z axis to solve traffic…. Keep car for longer drives but good lord we need something easy safe paint A to B short / commute type innovations
I designed a ‘flying car’ on Sketchup. Like this one it doesn’t fly, is not road legal and has no market or practical purpose but even though it’s just a bunch of computer generated imagery I still want fools to send me money. I’m only asking $10.00 deposit and you can pay the other $500,000 when I deliver it. Please make sure you have your runway paved because I’ll need somewhere to land! Thank you 😊.
Why would it take a year to build a plane? is it going to take 114 years to fulfill all the orders? You are paying a yearly salary of multiple ppl and all you can do is one prototype? too long. Especially for a kit plane.
At your own risk. I would say that it depends on where you choose to operate it. If you choose to drive the Switchblade within an area with low population or a small bedroom community where everyone knows one another, then doing so may work out just fine. But if you want to use the Swithblade in large metropolitan areas with higher crime rates, such as the cities of Los Angeles or New York, then you are taking a much bigger risk and I would not recommend it. Since the Switchblade is so ridiculously expensive, it's going to be very difficult to find and secure insurance policies capable of covering its costs in the event of a mechanical failure, a collision with another vehicle, or worse, theft. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket, because if something happens to it, you're not going to want to bear the expenses that follow. So my advice is, if you choose to use the Samson Sky Switchblade as a daily driver, then please be as careful as you possibly can.
@@CompulsoryDemocracy None. I am a normal human being just like everyone else on CZcams. However, I am 18 years old and do have autism, so it is entirely possible that people will mistaken me as a robot because I use grammatically correct language in a formal and respectful manner that may sometimes be seen as inappropriate. I greatly apologize for anything I said that may have offended you.
In modern times computer simulations can be seen everywhere, while real flying new aircraft developments reduce year after year. Have you seen a Samson at 6000 m altitude? The Fokker D-7 (1918) can do. That is a century ago. It seems thet the modern engineer cannot leave his computer an go for the shop, like Rutan did.
How can an airplane/car be anything but a terrible car and an even worse airplane? With Uber and car rentals easily available, why do we even need a crappy airplane that turns into a nearly worthless car?
Brilliant forward thinking. Most of the world could never afford it, but those that could, this has to be the coolest thing for a eccentric millionaire to own.
Anyone want to bet that is will not be in production anytime soon.
Well, let's wait and see. I was told that production was scheduled to begin in the ballpark of 2025 and 2026, but like I said, we shall see.
There’s been a flying car at Oshkosh just about every year i can remember. I don’t get it. It’s a bad car combined with a bad airplane. It’s like a lawnmower refrigerator combo.
Yep it’ll go bankrupt just like all the other ones and disappear and then new ones will show up that are horrible cars and also horrible airplanes. Now the auto Giro motorcycle looks like it actually would be fun. Looks like a decent autogiro and a decent motorcycle wouldn’t replace a car anything but it would be fun and actually would be something that someone would buy. I think it will be the only successful one of the group.
Imagine landing with a crosswind with the wings that close to the ground...
Ooh, could be an issue, but, correctable with AI flying on the last 100 ft Down?
In the Long-EZ, I'd fly mild cross wind landings wing low, and stronger cross wind landings half crab and half wing low. The Switchblade looks like it's crab only.
This looks cool. A flying car that actually looks like a car when it’s not a plane. Still a weird looking car but you take what you can get
That looks like it has three wheels. For the USA that legally makes it a motorcycle. That saves a lot of weight. Motorcycles don't require bumpers, airbags, and some other safety equipment required.
yeah save a lot of weight shedding a tire
So it's an even more dangerous car.
@@deSloleye Yet a safer motorbike...
@@deSloleye Still safer than a motorcycle.
But you still need both a motorcycle and a pilot's license to operate it. That's the real obstacles for me. And it still costs a fortune, too.
This new version looks much better than the old one!
While the big ducted fan in the first design looked cool and I am a bit sad to see it go, I understand why it needed to go and definitely think this new design is a much better choice. It is also much more realistic looking and protects all flight propellers and wings/surfaces from damage or theft. The transformation features also make the Switchblade look more like a regular car while on the road, which reduces the chance that other people or police officers you pass will want to pay attention to your vehicle while on the road. Overall, I believe this is an excellent design and I am all for it, as long as the company will be able to stay on schedule with production and not have to delay several years because the airframe must be recertified.
Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to being a future customer! :)
I built and own an experimental amphib. (A hybrid plane/boat). So am open to that kind of idea. However, this one doesn’t look feasible or practical. Best of luck.
There are so many reasons why this idea has never worked and they haven't changed.
Bad car, worse plane. Can you imagine the cost of collision insurance for this thing.
I agree, savings on hanger rent will probably go towards insurance. And what company will want to cover it? Complex maintenance with the folding wings and hybrid power system. The test flight program will probably reveal additional issues. Will probably be the most complex kit plane and complex manufacturing as well.
No actual pictures of the prototype?
We saw the prototype ages ago.
This is 6th? 7th? Year in a row hearing “we will be beginning production soon” from Switchblade. I hope the early deposits have an out option…
Be patient, please. Good things come to those who wait.
I've been a sucker for the flying car since Popular Mechanics articles in the early 1970s, but the concept has been around since there were cars and airplanes. It's a bit of a white whale. Technology keeps improving so theoretically that nut will be cracked sometime, but it's been a long time coming.
Yep. I fell for the Moeller many years ago.
Seems way too complex, both for manufacture and risk of failure. Just look at the unfolding tail, that's cray cray. Why have the long nose instead of a static tail. Configuration a bit like Aptera, smaller wheels, maybe narrow airless. Presumably driving will be minimal, only to and from so it doesn't have to be a great driver. Forward seating, static tail. Flip out wings under the body with telescopic extra stage. Keep it super light because that helps everything. Pusher ducted fan, modest diameter, no gearing, running fairly high rpm say 5k. Doesn't have to be optimal at either but a good workable mix. If it needs fairly high take off speed because the wing is small, that's fine. Keep it light, keep it simple.
the driving can be hybrid electric even if the ducted fan is always on. No major loss to blow some air while the wheels push. At idle it will idle
But then you are wasting power because the duted fan motor is always running. Plus, police officers might stop you if you are running a propeller on public roads. No other cars on the road have propellers because they pose hazards to pedestrians and children who may be crossing the street, even if permanently shrouded. I haven't read any laws that explicitly prohibited the use of propellers on public streets and roadways, but that doesn't mean it's not implied.
Plus, it's important to remember that all cars have to be worthy of withstanding collisions in order to meet safety standards, especially here in the United States. If someone crashes into your Switchblade from the rear, they may dislocate the ducted propeller and get themselves killed when the rotor blades come slicing through their windshield. And even if they don't, all you need is one person to file a complaint regarding the safety hazards you pose to other drivers and pedestrians by running your propellers on the street, and you may be ticketed.
@@hydroworldoutlook5769 hehe, with small diameter, well ducted and modestly shrouded I'm not sure that's the part that will stand out in traffic. At idle and low speed driving it should be quite docile. Of course you could make a clutch for it but elegant if you didn't need to. There would be no real waste by it. Say it's a 100HP config at 5500rpm, for city stop and go it might be 5kW power and quite close to idle power. deep duct and a grate you can't even see it. aint no thang. just a big engine cooler :)
I did a bit of calculation with GPT, ungeared at 5500rpm then 80cm diameter fan is appropriate. (31.5inches). Shouldn't look too hazardous.
An Aptera with a ducted fan and small skinny wheels. People would buy it and it's not too hard to make.
Wow 114 people have already ordered.
That’s a lot of hinges joints and moving parts to maintain and check.
If they actually hit their production schedule the price is going to be North of $500,000. Well North.
Cmon man.
flying cars, the scam that will never die
I don’t feel like it’s a scam late stage it’ll make ownership much more affordable when you factor in savings from hangaring etc. especially if you like in a VHCOL Area.
While I'm all for flying cars, I do fear that air taxis are more realistic and will come out on top in the end. They can carry more people and hence can be more efficient than any flying car owned by a single individual.
Peter Muller had big dreams too.
Do you mean Paul Moller?
@@SolarWebsiteYeah. Peter designed the failed Raptor but both had dreams that never went anywahere.
Failed? Peter Muller didn't fail. Just because his design hasn't been physically built yet doesn't mean he's failed. I think he still has a good chance. His thrusters are way better and much safer and much more efficient than any open propeller.
Paul Moller*
@@hydroworldoutlook5769 Not for vertical thrust though. There a larger propeller/impeller is beneficial to efficiency.
Seems pretty cool!
Think how could you design the worst car and the worst airplane. Then combine them.
the flying car scam is obsolete dude switch to copter taxi pod
I think this is an interesting idea. It’s the best car/plane concept that I’ve seen so far. But what really want to see is electrodynamic technology used in an automobile context. Cars that can hover and fly quietly. Using the roads but riding several feet off the ground and higher for longer trips.
Looks interesting. Going hybrid solves some problems, maybe that finally makes the flying car viable.
While I'm all for flying cars, I do fear that air taxis are more realistic and will come out on top in the end. They can carry more people and hence can be more efficient than any flying car owned by a single individual.
@@hydroworldoutlook5769 Yes, I think flying cars, even if they work, will always be a niche product. A bit like amphibious cars.
We just need large stable safe drone style design….. we have to Z axis to solve traffic…. Keep car for longer drives but good lord we need something easy safe paint A to B short / commute type innovations
Yeah nothing safer than your dumbass neighbour in a flying sports cars trying to beat traffic.
I designed a ‘flying car’ on Sketchup. Like this one it doesn’t fly, is not road legal and has no market or practical purpose but even though it’s just a bunch of computer generated imagery I still want fools to send me money. I’m only asking $10.00 deposit and you can pay the other $500,000 when I deliver it. Please make sure you have your runway paved because I’ll need somewhere to land! Thank you 😊.
REAR Wheel COVERS!! FOB from a Spinning Wheel, that CLOSE to the trailing edge of the Main Wing? Please, consider that probability!
4 wheels or 3?
Looks good Sam.
Why would it take a year to build a plane? is it going to take 114 years to fulfill all the orders? You are paying a yearly salary of multiple ppl and all you can do is one prototype? too long. Especially for a kit plane.
Can you use the switchblade as a daily driver?
At your own risk. I would say that it depends on where you choose to operate it. If you choose to drive the Switchblade within an area with low population or a small bedroom community where everyone knows one another, then doing so may work out just fine. But if you want to use the Swithblade in large metropolitan areas with higher crime rates, such as the cities of Los Angeles or New York, then you are taking a much bigger risk and I would not recommend it. Since the Switchblade is so ridiculously expensive, it's going to be very difficult to find and secure insurance policies capable of covering its costs in the event of a mechanical failure, a collision with another vehicle, or worse, theft. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket, because if something happens to it, you're not going to want to bear the expenses that follow. So my advice is, if you choose to use the Samson Sky Switchblade as a daily driver, then please be as careful as you possibly can.
All the safety of a motorcycle with the insurance cost of a Lamborghini.
Who is advising you? A human or computer program?
@@CompulsoryDemocracy None. I am a normal human being just like everyone else on CZcams. However, I am 18 years old and do have autism, so it is entirely possible that people will mistaken me as a robot because I use grammatically correct language in a formal and respectful manner that may sometimes be seen as inappropriate. I greatly apologize for anything I said that may have offended you.
In modern times computer simulations can be seen everywhere, while real flying new aircraft developments reduce year after year.
Have you seen a Samson at 6000 m altitude? The Fokker D-7 (1918) can do. That is a century ago.
It seems thet the modern engineer cannot leave his computer an go for the shop, like Rutan did.
This is such a waste of engineering resources
No one with a PPL would be interested. If you find someone, better hope they never see a gyrocopter demo.
How can an airplane/car be anything but a terrible car and an even worse airplane? With Uber and car rentals easily available, why do we even need a crappy airplane that turns into a nearly worthless car?
Yeah, and I can see Betty Lou landing that at Walmart🤣🤣🤣🤣. That guy is delusional.
Never. Going. To. Happen.
It´s cool, but it´s never going to be very practical or widespread
Nope.
Brilliant forward thinking. Most of the world could never afford it, but those that could, this has to be the coolest thing for a eccentric millionaire to own.