TF-X concept via Terrafugia
Terrafugia didn’t repeat their flying-car demo flights this year at EAA AirVenture, choosing to leave the Transition aircraft back at the factory in Woburn, Massachusetts, to continue drive testing. But the team had a presence at the show in the new Innovations Pavilion, where they displayed a full-scale test version of a motor pod they’re working on for their next design, the TF-X. “This is to validate our theory, and to verify that we don’t get cascading failures,” Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich told AVweb. “We want to see, is this configuration really going to work? This is really early-stage stuff — there’ll be no full-scale prototype of the TF-X for a long time yet.” The company says the TF-X will be a four-seat hybrid-electric flying car capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
While work on the TF-X is ongoing, Dietrich said, the company is still focused on completing its Transition design. Over the next year, he said, they will start construction of a third-generation prototype. “This version will look very similar to the one that flew at Oshkosh last year,” Dietrich said. “But there are lots of internal refinements.” The Transition is a two-seat aircraft with folding wings that fits in a single-car garage and will be street-legal, the company says. It’s designed to be easy to fly and simple to convert between flying and driving modes.
