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Skycar in Wired Magazine Jan 2000 pg 136-137 Over Drive by David Pescovitz david@pesco.net, co-author of Reality Check. On a sunny afternoon in 1989, Paul Moller cranked up his M200X flying saucer’s engines and achieved liftoff. He reached an altitude of 40 feet, remained airborne for three minutes, and landed safely, all unaided by the crane and tether required by his insurance agency {the M200X has had over 200 test flights}. Many witnesses were convinced: Moller would deliver George Jetson’s ride. Ten years and millions of dollars later, Moller’s M400 Skycar continues to justify the early optimism, though it had yet to fly and has plenty of competition {but only the Skycar is safe, in fact, ultrasafe to fly}. In recent months, the media had been all over the Solo Trek Exo-Skeletor Flying Vehicle, essentially a one-person, open-air helicopter, invented by Millennium Jet founder Michael Moshier – who, it turns out, once worked as a consultant for Moller. Their budding rivalry had helped save Moller from a lone-nut reputation. Credibility comes from competition," says the 63 years-old Moller. "If you’re the only guy out there doing something, everyone questions your sanity" Moller International is taking advance orders for the M400 series, which the company thinks could be in commercial production by 2002, but is probably a decade or two from most family budgets. In limited production – say 500 units a year – the Skycar will cost about $1 million. Once it goes mass market, Moller expects it to have a sticker prices of $60,000 to $80,000. Most of Moller’s funding, however, comes from private investors and spin-off companies. In 1988 he sold SuperTrapp Industries, the manufacturer of his ubiquitous SuperTrapp motorcycle muffler, and plowed the proceeds back into his dream car. Now he is looking as selling the M400’s Rotapower engine – ideal for jet skis, snowmobiles, and hybrid electric automobiles. Early on, Moller’s flying car concept promised anarchy. "Even if you put only 10 percent of automobiles up in the air, it’d be suicidal." He admits. His solution: " The passenger will never be the pilot" – that is, the Skycar will fly by remote control {the air taxi version could use a professional pilot}. NASA and the FAA are developing the GPS-based SATA (Small Aircraft Transportation System), which will integrate the physical infrastructure, air-traffic control, and rules of the skyway. Once SATS is in place {in the US}, Moller envisions commuters linking the Skycar’s onboard computers to the tracking system and letting it set the course. "If we can go to the moon," say Moller, "we can certainly make this car fly. The following are captions on the associated excellent Skycar picture Each of the Skycar’s four streamlines enclosures, each called a nacelle, hold two of Moller’s patented Rotapower four-stroke engines, fans and vanes. The Rotapowers, based on the Wankel engine, drive high-powered, ultra-efficient fans, If one engine in a nacelle fails the other bears the full burden. The production model Rotapower engine has just three major moving parts. (A typical automobile’s four cylinder piston engine had 44). Intake and exhaust ports in the rotor housing preclude the need for valves, camshafts, rocker arms, springs, lifter rods, and timing belts. The combustion chamber’s shape keeps the fuel-air mixture rich in oxygen, reducing unburned hydrocarbons and carbon-monoxide emissions. Each Rotapower generates 55 horsepower. Combining all eight Rotapowers, each {nacelle} with two rotors, The Skycar can crank out 880 hp (Only 700 is necessary for liftoff.) Two 25 gallon fuel tanks keep the Skycar in business for five hours {assuming few fuel- consuming take-offs}. Flying at an average speed of 300 mph {varies with distance to be flown}, it gets 20 miles per gallon. In demonstrations, various Rotapower engines have run on unleaded gasoline, diesel, and natural gas. With its body of fiber-reinforced plastic {the use of carbon composites would save about 150 pounds}, the 18 by 10 by 6 foot Skycar weighs in a 2,200 pounds {at take-off with passengers and fuel} and seats four. Computer-controlled movable vanes, like those in a Harrier jump jet {but run at a far cooler temperature} deflect the airflow from the fans to change flight direction. No flaps or elevators are required; the engine’s speed determines the power of the thrust, while the vanes control the Skycar’s direction, pitch, and roll. To achieve vertical liftoff, the vanes deflect the thrust downward; to shoot the car forward, they deflect the thrust back. The vanes also enable the Skycar to hover {while consuming fuel at a high rate} In case of emergency, two parachutes will carry the ballistically ejected pilot and passenger gently to the earth {the parachutes carry the aircraft and passengers to the earth} The Skycar’s normal altitude will be 5,000 feet for short hops, 25,000 feet for longer {pressurized} journeys. The Skycar is intended to be completely computer controlled – running a custom operating system on a Motorola 16-bit microprocessor – with dual redundancy: If once computer fails, the other can fly alone. (The commercial version will be quadruply redundant for an even safer ride.) Sensors that measure altitude, speed, rate of climb, and "angle of attack" – in conjunction with GPS – keep the Skycar flying smoothly and on course by moving the deflection vanes, altering the vehicle’s direction. {xxx} = comments by Henry Lahore 12/21/99 |