Scaled Composites, the Burt Rutan company that brought us SpaceShipOne, is now exploring potential development options for a twin-fuselage, hybrid-powered aircraft that could prove to be a practical solution to the long-held dream of a flying car, according to a report from Aviation Week, which notes: “Dubbed the Model 367 BiPod, the two-seat vehicle is configured with removable wings, stabilizer and tail tips to enable swift conversion into a road vehicle. Seating one person per fuselage, the BiPod is designed to be driven like a car from the left-hand cockpit and flown as an aircraft from the right side.” Read the full report here.
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Fascinating, Rutan and his colleagues do make us think outside the box. But honestly, who would ever want to put our fragile aircraft in the middle of a crowded street of teenage drivers and over-caffeinated parents with a car full of screaming youngsters? The requirements to satisfy the DOT for highway vehicles and the FAA for aircraft are so far apart, that anything to satisfy both will likely be impractical and unaffordable. How many of those goofy car/boats from the 50s have you seen on the highway lately? Neat idea, but terribly impractical. If anyone can do it though, it would be from the engineers at Scaled Composites. A REAL revolution in aviation though would be a modern, unspinnable, rugged LSA comprised of commodity components to cut its cost in half or more. Use commodity fuel (autogas), engines (auto conversions), materials (wood?), and avionics (iPAD+software) and allow other mass markets to underwrite the cost of flying.