Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
You could fill the sky with all the ideas people
have had for flying cars. "But at this point the
Transition is the closest to actually getting to the
marketplace." So says Carl Dietrich, head of
Terrafugia. His company in Massachusetts is
developing the Transition Roadable Aircraft.Mr.
Dietrich says "the Transition is designed to really
be a general aviation airplane, like a Cessna or a
Piper, a propeller-powered airplane that can fold up
its wings, drive down the road and park in a
single-car garage." And he says the Transition
easily changes to a car in about twenty seconds. The
driver folds up the wings and transfers power from a
propeller to the wheels for driving on the ground.
Development began in two thousand six, and the first
road and fight tests took place in two thousand
nine. The Transition had to meet federal safety
standards for cars and aircraft. Last year the
Federal Aviation Administration agreed to let it
weigh more than other light sport aircraft. But even
fully loaded, says Mr. Dietrich, it still weighs
about half as much as an average car. The windows,
for example, weigh less than traditional automotive
safety glass. Terrafugia got permission for that in
June from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.Carl Dietrich says the aircraft can
climb to more than three thousand meters. It can
carry two people at speeds over one hundred sixty
kilometers an hour in the air. And on the ground it
can drive at highway speeds, around one hundred
thirteen kilometers an hour.The plane needs an
airport for takeoffs and landings -- and pilot
training for the driver -- but it uses automotive
gasoline.The company expects to complete the
building process for its flying cars within the next
few months. Then it will began an intensive
year-long testing program. Terrafugia expects the
Transition to reach market by the end of
twenty-twelve, at a price of around two hundred
fifty thousand dollars. Carl Dietrich says nearly
one hundred people have already signed up as buyers.
He hopes to sell as many as a thousand a year in the
near future. He says: "That will not have any
appreciable or noticeable impact on the air traffic
control infrastructure in the foreseeable future
today. Now, twenty years down the road, who knows?"
For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti. For
more technology stories and activities for people
learning English, go to voaspecialenglish.com.
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
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