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Aerocar

Ed Sweeney in Florida has one and flies it occasionally I had some contact with Ed a while ago in relation to another plane, helped source some parts.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 08 Apr 00:16

Of course you have to configure that thing from airplane to car and vice versa. But I really wonder how you reconfigure your brain between flying and driving mode when you can do both in the same vehicle. Will you start driving in the middle of the road? Or lift off and wonder why your wheels start spinning and your engine is red-lining?

EDQH, Germany

It was a bad idea then and it still is. But it doesn’t stop people from trying.

LFMD, France

Funny how people want to make a flying car, but never a roadable airplane. Still, in the end they all become (hardly at all) roadable airplanes

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Will you start driving in the middle of the road?

Real pilots drive in the middle of the road anyway

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Clipperstorch wrote:

But I really wonder how you reconfigure your brain between flying and driving mode when you can do both in the same vehicle. Will you start driving in the middle of the road? Or lift off and wonder why your wheels start spinning and your engine is red-lining?

One the instructors in our club told a story about a very low-time student who, during the takeoff roll, decided to shift into higher gear and so pushed the left pedal to the floor to disengage the clutch. The instructor did manage to save the situation…

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden
reconfigure your brain between flying and driving mode

I am sure all instructors have noted the tendency for many student pilots to turn the wheel in the direction of the turn when turning on the ground. Actually, some certified pilots do it too.

huv
EKRK, Denmark

huv wrote:

I am sure all instructors have noted the tendency for many student pilots to turn the wheel in the direction of the turn when turning on the ground. Actually, some certified pilots do it too.

I guess most anybody who learned to fly did this at some point.

In fact, I’m slightly annoyed that it doesn’t work this way, would make steering on the ground much easier. The C172N which I mainly rent nowadays is terrible to steer on the ground, with pedals, as the pedals seem to require a completely arbitrary amount of pressure to create the desired change of direction.

This was much better in the Aquila on which I learned to fly.

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

huv wrote:

I am sure all instructors have noted the tendency for many student pilots to turn the wheel in the direction of the turn when turning on the ground. Actually, some certified pilots do it too.

It’s OK if you’re flying an Ercoupe No rudder pedals, brake pedal on the floor, steer on the ground with the yoke, and really tremendously easy to fly. They made a lot of them too, it’s not a flying car but a plane that’s almost as easy to ‘drive’ as an automatic transmission car.

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