Massachusetts man’s desire of a flying car is close to hitting the market

The long-held hope for a flying car is about to indeed take off.

A Massachusetts man’s fantasy of ultimately accomplishing the aerocar — the holy grail for many aviation enthusiasts — is close to coming to fruition. Carl Dietrich told Bloomberg he expects the “Transition” to hit the market in the next three years.

“It can be frustrating, but I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think we had the potential to inspire a trillion-dollar industry,” he said. “I wouldn’t waste my time if I didn’t think we could switch the world.”

The $279,000 vehicle-and-plane-in-one will travel seventy mph on the road and one hundred mph in the air.

Dietrich has began a lot of whirr for the project since he founded his company ,Terrafugia, in 2006.

I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think we had the potential to inspire a trillion-dollar industry.

It launched the very first public demonstration of the two-seat prototype at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture gathering in Oshkosh, Wis., in July. More than a hundred people lined up to pay deposits of $Ten,000 for their own multiuse vehicle, Bloomberg reports.

“We had seven people write us checks for a product that didn’t even exist yet,” Dietrich told Bloomberg. “That’s a pretty powerful indicator that people indeed want this.”

As the 37-year-old resumes to develop the project, he is now focused on getting certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates planes, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which treats approval for road vehicles.

One reason the Transition is further along than any previous flying-car concept is that in 2004, the FAA created the so-called light sport aircraft, or LSA, designation for planes that weigh less than 1,320 pounds (600 kilograms) and seat no more than two people.

LSA manufacturers are given an lighter path to market in order to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.

“Private aviation is basically a joy, expensive hobby,” Dietrich says. “My aim is to actually make it useful.”

The concept is more than just a novelty.

Dietrich said the Transition would seek to improve many of failings of current petite airplanes.

Its creator Carl Dietrich believes this could launch a trillion dollar industry.

However many puny planes cannot fly in bad weather, Dietrich said in those situations the Transition could simply land and then drive to the destination. The vehicle can also run on regular unleaded gas.

“You’re getting comparable gas mileage to your road car, but you’re going one hundred miles per hour over all the traffic,” Dietrich said.

There are other companies that are also close to building a flying car.

A Slovakian company has developed four prototypes since one thousand nine hundred ninety for a flying car named AeroMobil.

That project is a little thicker than the Transition and can travel up to one hundred mph on the road and one hundred twenty four mph in the air. The company has yet to announce a release date.

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