A flying car? Inventor has high hopes

[David]

A flying car? Inventor has high hopes

Display at State Fair intended to pique interest, draw investors

09/26/2002

By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News

Every automaker with a fast car or truck at the State Fair will claim it can fly.

Dr. Paul Moller really means it.

A former professor with a Ph.D. in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, Dr. Moller has spent the last 35 years developing a simple craft that lifts off vertically like a helicopter and, once free of the ground, becomes a high-performance airplane capable of hitting 350 mph.
Moller M400 Skycar at a glance
Type of vehicle: A craft that combines the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities of a helicopter with the speed of an airplane

Number of passengers: 4

Cruise speed at 25,000 feet: 350 mph

Weight: 2,200 pounds (slightly less than a Mazda Miata)

Power source: Rotary engines driving thrust-generating fans

Controls: Virtually everything is computerized. Passengers will code in their destination and, theoretically, sit back and relax

SOURCE: Moller International

His current M400 Skycar will be on display in the Automobile Building at the State Fair. Though it has made only limited, controlled flights tethered to a line on the ground, the Skycar is expected to undergo a true test flight this year or next and seek FAA certification next year, he said.

Dr. Moller, 65, said he first flew one of his unusual aircraft in 1965.

"It's a remarkable thing," he said in a telephone interview this week from his office in Davis, Calif. "Even though our flights have been limited, you truly feel you are on a magic carpet. With a helicopter, you feel like you are being pulled up. [In the Skycar], you just rise up."

Powered by eight rotary engines that drive jet-like fans, the four-passenger Skycar is small enough to be stored in a conventional garage, would require minimal pilot skills and could take off from a driveway or a backyard. Its target price, $55,000, "really puts us in the hands of everyone," Dr. Moller said.

"If we are successful going in the direction we are, this will be the vehicle that replaces 85 percent of the miles driven by autos and 80 percent of the miles flown by [commercial] aircraft," said Dr. Moller, who also developed the Super Trapp exhaust system used on some motorcycles and high-performance cars. "That probably won't happen before the next 10 years."

Skycar appealing

His vision of the Skycar has attracted a following over the years. Moller International has sold more than 1 million scale models of the Skycar, Dr. Moller said, and "I have stockholders in every corner of the world."

Interest in the Skycar has grown as road traffic has gotten increasingly congested, he said.

Passengers in the Skycar will "just get in and code in where they are going, and go," Dr. Moller said. Computers will control the craft's ascent, flight and landing.

But before the Skycar or a similar aircraft can be marketed as an alternative to a car or private plane, airspace will have to be much more tightly controlled, he acknowledged. And that infrastructure could take years to develop.

"Still, it's so much easier to build a system based on software than having to lay out a concrete highway," he said.

Dr. Moller foresees airways similar to highways at altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 feet. Each airway would be one direction, and computers, with help from satellites, would be responsible for maintaining a safe distance between the cars.

"In principal, if my vision is correct, you won't even need a driver's license," he said. "The vehicle could arrive empty at your doorstep as a sort of rental. You'd get in and go wherever you needed."

More money needed

His company, Moller International, has spent about $200 million over the years developing the concept and probably needs another $200 million to bring it to market, he said. Dr. Moller said the company, which has 25 employees, could bring a Skycar to market in five years with the right funding.

Moller International has registered 46 million shares of its stock and hopes to be listed on the Nasdaq within six months, said James Morgan, executive vice president of RichMark Capital Corp. of Irving, Moller's investment banker and financial adviser.

Mr. Morgan said he suggested that Dr. Moller bring the Skycar to Dallas for the State Fair.

"We have a link to their Web site, and I had 97 e-mails yesterday just from people looking to buy a Skycar," he said.

Both hope that the fair brings additional investors.

"RichMark said the State Fair is well attended, and they wanted to let the local community know about us," Dr. Moller said. "I understand it's a community with some rich people in it."

Despite the obstacles that the company still faces, some in the industry say the concept appears to be sound.

"If he has created a vehicle that is as safe as a helicopter, costs less, won't take up runway space and goes like stink, I'd say he's onto something," said Ken Glaze, vice president of business development and director of flight operations at Helijet International Inc. in Vancouver, B.C.

E-mail tbox@dallasnews.com

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/s...car.7528e.html

[Drbio]

George Jetson would be proud.

Actually, I want to see it.

[MavKikiNYC]

Sounds dangerous.

Can't imagine getting behind a bluehair in one of those.

[irontoad]

A flying car?? And you think you're paying a lot for gas now...