My Moller beats your Macro, dude
See Elroy for details about premium discounts for parachutes.
I read here where some MIT-trained engineers have a company that makes a flying car.
Writing for Insurance Networking News, Ara Trembly sees big headaches ahead for the insurance industry as it grapples with how to insure this vehicle. Is it an aircraft or a car? Do you need both car insurance and airplane insurance? And what if it crashes on landing? Is that a car wreck or a plane crash? All good questions for the flying-car market, I agree.
If you ask me, though, Terrafugia’s Transition isn’t the vehicle that’s going to drive insurance carriers up an actuarial wall. The Moller M400 Skycar is. That or the Nuera. Or, maybe even better, the Macro Skyryder X2R. Welcome to The Jetsons. For real.
We’re talking flying cars, so that makes me an expert as much as anyone. And, in my expert opinion, the Moller is light years ahead of that VW-Bug looking thing with the fold-up wings. And the Macro SkyRyder sounds even better than that. In his blog post, Trembly said “I’d still like to see that vehicle that would whoosh me out of a traffic jam at a moment’s notice.”
Moller’s got it and Macro says it will. Vertical take-offs and landings are where the rubber meets the road. Airports? We don’t need no stinkin’ airports!
So, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Sure Dave, flying cars are for real and very cool. I want one but I don’t know how to fly and getting a pilot’s license doesn’t look all that easy.”
According to Moller, “A Skycar is not piloted like a traditional fixed wing airplane and has only two hand-operated controls, which the pilot uses to inform the redundant computer control system of his or her desired flight maneuvers.” You will need a special license to cruise around in a Moller but it sounds a hell of a lot easier than learning to fly a clunky old fixed-wing flying car. Come on, man.
And Macro even goes Moller one better. “Simply turn on the power, enter the address or phone number of the destination, confirm the commands and SkyRyder does the rest …”
Apparently, Macro plans to make its vehicle virtually idiot proof by installing an automatic pilot linked to the so-called highway in the sky computerized navigation system that NASA is developing to enable millions of us to buzz around Jetsons-style without smacking into each other or flying from Tampa to Orlando via Starke.
One more word about insuring these things. They should be way cheaper to cover than cars. For one thing, we can sit up there texting, applying eyeliner and playing with the radio without even looking up. Our autopilot will make sure we don’t rear end the X2R up ahead and there won’t be any traffic lights to blow. Just keep the altitude safely above power-line level and you’ll be fine.
Not only that but Mollers come equipped with parachutes and airbags (inside and out) that land us safely in the event of mechanical failure. Suddenly breakdowns are romantic opportunities all over again. Take that insurance companies. I want a parachute discount!
