Future of personal flight or flight of fancy??

Future of personal flight or flight of fancy??

Ramblings about failed predictions (or were they?)

Dr. Mark Gerschefske (ok, soon-to-be Dr. G.) had a very interesting post on his blog regarding “failed predictions” with a well written article on flying cars. See http://markctu.blogspot.com/2007/08/failed-prediction-flying-car.html

However, I pointed out in comments to his blog that I believe the prediction of the flying car is merely delayed, albeit SIGNIFICANTLY if you consider that the inventor/futurist Waldo Waterman had produced a prototype flying car in 1937, so we’re only talking about 70 years delayed! Ok, ok, that is significantly late—I get it, but I absolutely believe this will be in the mainstream public by 2020.

Another interesting and telltale fact about how people embrace technology and innovation was the fact that there really was a viable flying car named the “Watermans’ Aerobile” which was powered by a Studebaker engine that could fly at a speed of 112 MPH and on the ground at 56 MHP.

The really interesting part is that the technology existed, but the government wasn’t ready for every home to have a plane in their garage. (Shades of big brother?)

In their defense, I must point out that the FAA was in its infancy at that point in history:

The FAA May 20, 1926: President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act of 1926 into law. The act instructed the Secretary of Commerce to foster air commerce; designate and establish airways; establish, operate, and maintain aids to air navigation (but not airports); arrange for research and development to improve such aids; license pilots; issue airworthiness certificates for aircraft and major aircraft components; and investigate accidents.

And REGULAR Air passenger service began that same year (three days later [May 23] to be exact!).

The FAA has just recently (2006) begun to certify smaller and smaller classes of mini and micro jets which will ultimately pave the way for flying cars—they already have software infrastructure to handle small regional and personal airports for these smaller classes of aircraft.

To make the point that the flying car is not a failed prediction, only delayed, it appears that there are many flying cars ready to make the retail market within the next 10 years or less. The most promising is Woody Norris’s Air Scooter who has a working prototype that he claims will sell cheaply - $50k and more importantly you will not need a pilot’s license if you fly under 400 feet in non-restricted airspace. Of course, I’m not very certain if that will get you from point A to point B of your intended destinations in very many circumstances, but it does look promising!

See his link here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/15/60minutes/main688454.shtml

All of this babble is simply to lead us to this point in my blog—I found the most amazing quote from Woody Norris while digging into Mark’s topic.

This quote really sums up the feeling and mood of the true futurist and innovator in all areas, technologies, and all walks of life:

"…This stuff that we're surrounded by, that we think is so cool is caveman," says Norris. "The good stuff is coming. The really good stuff is coming…"