Where Are All The Flying Cars?

When I was a kid growing up I used to watch the Jetsons on TV and hoped for the day I could fly in my own personal flying machine. In the 8o's popular movies like "Back to the Future" and "Blade Runner" showed us the future, and it was the flying car. Who could forget the DeLorean? So I ask you, where are all the flying cars?

Well, the first autoplane was designed in 1917; it had 3 wings, a car-like cabin, and 4 large wheels, but it never got off the ground. In 1926 Henry Ford unveiled his version of the flying car, the "Sky Fivver", only 15 feet long it could fly and be driven on roads, but was abandoned after a fatal test flight. A few flying cars have been built and tested since then, like the "Aerobile", "Airphibian", and "Aerocar", some are even still flying today. The only problems with these are that you have to be a trained pilot and can only take off and land at an airport. So we're left with more plane than car.

In 1991 the world was introduced to the Moller "Skycar", with it's ability to take off and land vertically (see above photo). It promised to be the future of the automobile. Only one problem though, it had yet to actually fly. After a "hover test" in 2003, the possible production of the "Skycar" has been stalled due to lack of investors. There are currently several other inventors designing flying cars like Terrafugia and their small plane with wings that fold in, so it can be driven. But for now it is being designed only for sport pilots and not designed to replace the every day automobile. And there's Aeronautics' "X-Hawk", a power-lifted vehicle like the "Skycar", being designed for rescue and medical evacuation.

So it seems that the flying car being a reality still remains to be seen. Maybe they'll figure it out in my lifetime and add a Hemi to it.