Hi,
This caught my attention, since I'm very interrested in anything out-of-the-ordinary in aviation.
And especially since Stephen Vernava and me, created a freeware FS9/FSX simulation of this "vehicle" some years ago.
For those of you, that followed the news on enterpreneur Paul Moller (Moller International) regarding the development of Skycars, this might be an interresting read:
http://www.somi2003.org/
What it boils down to, is the claim that all delays in introduction of a commercial Skycar 400 were in fact caused by the US SEC.
Because financing of further developments, especially the tether-free flights, were made impossible because of a conflict between MI and the SEC.
My short summary.
If you haven't been following this story about the M400:
For more then a decade, there have been announcements by MI about commercial introduction dates, numbers/prices, real (un-tethered) testflights, etc. of this Skycar.
Objectively, I can only conclude that these promises and announcements were never met. For whatever reason.
Being a technician only, very interrested in Skycar-type-of-developments, I have no opinion on what's the real truth here (if that even exists).
Or if such a product would be commercially viable or not.
You judge for yourself.
But if you browse the Internet for more background, it at least gives you a good idea why there is a long way in aviation between a brilliant idea and true realisation.
Regards, Rob
This caught my attention, since I'm very interrested in anything out-of-the-ordinary in aviation.
And especially since Stephen Vernava and me, created a freeware FS9/FSX simulation of this "vehicle" some years ago.
For those of you, that followed the news on enterpreneur Paul Moller (Moller International) regarding the development of Skycars, this might be an interresting read:
http://www.somi2003.org/
What it boils down to, is the claim that all delays in introduction of a commercial Skycar 400 were in fact caused by the US SEC.
Because financing of further developments, especially the tether-free flights, were made impossible because of a conflict between MI and the SEC.
My short summary.
If you haven't been following this story about the M400:
For more then a decade, there have been announcements by MI about commercial introduction dates, numbers/prices, real (un-tethered) testflights, etc. of this Skycar.
Objectively, I can only conclude that these promises and announcements were never met. For whatever reason.
Being a technician only, very interrested in Skycar-type-of-developments, I have no opinion on what's the real truth here (if that even exists).
Or if such a product would be commercially viable or not.
You judge for yourself.
But if you browse the Internet for more background, it at least gives you a good idea why there is a long way in aviation between a brilliant idea and true realisation.
Regards, Rob