The Transition Airplane/Car is out selling every single light aircraft available today, in pre-sales. What makes it so coveted? It is street legal, and it is available now.
The company Terrafugia, (pronounced 'ter-ra-FOO-gee-ah') and founded in 2006 by MIT aeronautical engineers and MBAs, brings their passion for private aircraft to a new frontier, the street. The "Transition Roadable Aircraft lets the owner drive their plane to an airport, take off, and land again without ever worrying about where to store the vehicle.
In flight, the Transition burns 5 gallons per hour, with a maximum range of 490 miles, 787 km. On the road it gets a respectable 35 miles per gallon, 14.9 km/L. Fortunately, it uses high octane gasoline available at almost every gas station.
The obvious demographic comes in how the cargo storage size in described. The cargo area is repeatedly said to carry golf clubs; having which was the main hurdle to my purchase. The overall combined passenger weight limit is around 400 lbs, 181 kg.
The Transition is certified as a Light Sport Aircraft. Getting a Sport Pilot license to fly one only requires 20 hours of flight time. Test driving a Transition is an option for sometime in 2012, around the time of the first customer delivery.
At $250,000 USD, $10,000 down for preordering, it is sure to be a big seller. Take a look at the Terrafugia site for more information and photos/video on this student started, now professional engineer operated avionics company.
Eavesdropper
