text: THE TF-2 
   
   REVOLUTIONIZING DAILY TRAVEL 
   
   The TF-2 is being designed to make travel by air and ground part of nearly everyone’s daily commute. It is a three part system that combines a passenger cabin that transfers between a road vehicle and an air vehicle. Passengers travel their full journey, through the air and on the ground without having to switch vehicles along the way. 
   
   The TF-2 will take-off like a helicopter, fly like an airplane, and drive on the roads using the latest technology in electric propulsion, construction materials and manufacturing processes to ensure safety and reliability. ||||| The Transition was designed as a "light sport" aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane under FAA classification, with a maximum weight of 1,320lb. But the manufacturers found it impossible to fit the safety features - airbags, crumple zones and roll cage, for instance - that are required for road vehicles into that weight. 
   
   Uniquely, however, the FAA has granted the Transition an exemption - allowing it to be classified as a light sport aircraft despite being 120lb over the limit. 
   
   The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot - an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land - it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered. 
   
   Its cruising speed in the air is 115mph, it has a range of 460 miles, and it can carry 450lb. It requires a 1,700-foot (one-third of a mile) runway to take off and can fit in a standard garage. 
   
   Terrafugia says that one of the major advantages of the Transition over ordinary light aircraft is safety - in the event of inclement weather, it can simply drive home instead of either being grounded or flying in unsafe conditions. 
   
   The company says that 70 people have ordered the car, leaving a $10,000 (£6,650) deposit each. The car is expected to retail at $194,000 (£129,000). Deposits are held in escrow, meaning that should the company go bankrupt before delivery, the money will be refunded. 
   
   Story via The Register.
target: – Move over, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The FAA has approved a small plane that can also double as a car. Drivers can zip down the road in the two-seat Terrafugia Transition, wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Upon arrival at an airport, the "roadable light sport" aircraft, weighing in at just over 1300 pounds, can be transformed into a flying machine. In the event of inclement weather, it can simply be driven back home. Some 70 customers have already ordered the $194,000 craft, and production will begin soon, reports the Telegraph.