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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Science "Where's My Flying Car?"

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 2:18 PM

One of my pet peeves is when people complain about how they live in the future, but they have not gotten a flying car yet. Frankly, the way most people drive, I'm not too excited about the idea of a whole new dimension—up—being added to the equation. And if lots of people had them, fossil fuel use would probably go through the roof (no pun initially intended, but I am pleased with it and it will stay.) In any case, I am here to tell you, citizens of the future, that your flying car is here:

The seed of this improbable adventure was sown four years ago when Gilo Cardozo, a paramotor manufacturer, had a eureka moment. For those not familiar with paramotors, picture a parachutist with a giant industrial fan strapped to his back, which provides forward motion and boosts lift for the parachute - or wing - during takeoff. Cardozo’s brainwave was to attach a car to the fan.

“I started making a paramotor on wheels that you sit on and take off and it suddenly occurred to me, ‘Why not just have a car that does everything?’” recalls Cardozo, whose Wiltshire-based company Parajet built the paramotor that the adventurer Bear Grylls used to fly near Everest last year.

Comments (11) RSS

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That's for wankers. I want one of the Jetsons' cars.

Posted by Toe Tag on November 13, 2008 at 2:40 PM

i was hoping for something a little more "Bladerunner" than "Banana Splits"...

Posted by yelahneb on November 13, 2008 at 2:52 PM

No, no, no. Flying cars are for wankers. I was promised a JET PACK.

Posted by Fnarf on November 13, 2008 at 2:52 PM

I was promised a world without disease or hunger. Look at this hangnail! Where's my cookie?

Posted by inkweary on November 13, 2008 at 3:10 PM

I'll just leave this here.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-1008…

Posted by Matt Fuckin' Hickey on November 13, 2008 at 3:13 PM

A crucial element of all my flying car/ jet-pack fantasies is that I am the only person that has one.

Posted by flamingbanjo on November 13, 2008 at 4:08 PM

At first, I thought that flying car was really Sid and Marty Krofft's famous WONDERBUG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQnnZOJSl…

Posted by Bub on November 13, 2008 at 4:27 PM

I've ridden in a powered parachute, looks like the same thing. Great fun, if not very ecologically sound. There's a group up in Arlington that flies them out of the ultralight airport there. You can get an hour's ride and a piloting lesson for a hundred bucks.

http://seattlepowerchutes.com/default.as…

Posted by Ivan Cockrum on November 13, 2008 at 4:39 PM

Fnarf's right, they did promise us jetpacks.

And not the ones that stop working after a quarter-mile.

Posted by Will in Seattle on November 13, 2008 at 4:47 PM

I want a flying car in the form of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Posted by Mikki on November 13, 2008 at 4:54 PM

Look, people, we are halfway to living in a science fiction movie anyway now, what with President Inspirational Black Man, so please, be patient in regards to your Cold Fusion - Powered Flying Car.

Posted by Billy Nilly on November 13, 2008 at 10:42 PM