Published by Sierra Monica P. on March 18, 2009 under Cars





“Terrafugia successfully created what science fiction writers have been describing for years. Because the Transition is essentially two products in one, there were twice as many engineering challenges. We applaud Terrafugia for overcoming those and putting such an exciting concept into action,” declared SolidWorks.

This is a quote published in the latest press release from Terrafugia, an aeronautics company that designed an aircraft capable of converting into a normal car as soon as it lands on the ground.





The aircraft was named Transition and was designed using the SolidWorks 3D CAD software.

To accomplish this, Transition had to meet several requirements including safety and performance standards. It is first an aircraft for private pilots and secondly a road vehicle for transportation between airports. It features full automotive suspension, crumple zones, roll cages and side-folding wings.

Specifications:

-Cruise: 100 kts (115 mph)

-Rotate: 70 kts (80 mph)

-Stall: 45 kts (51 mph)

-Range: 400nm (460 mi)

-Takeoff over 50′ obstacle: 1700′

-Fuel burn: 5 gph

-Fuel tank: 20 gallons

-Useful Load: 430 lbs

-On road: 30 mpg, highway speeds

-Light Sport Aircraft (LSA)

-Folded: 6′ 9″ tall x 80″ wide x 18′ 9″ long

-Airplane size: 6′ 3″ tall x 19′ 2″ long with wingspan of 27′ 6″ and cockpit of 51″

Design:

-Front wheel drive on the ground

-Automotive-style entry and exit

-Two place, side by side

-Automated electromechanical folding wing

-No trailer or hangar needed

-Cargo area holds skis, fishing poles or golf clubs

“Landing Animation” video:

When it will be available for purchase, Transition will have a price of around $194,000, and if you’d like to drive it you’ll need just 20 hours of flight time in the specific course.

“Driving the Transition Home” video:

“We put all our designs into SolidWorks, then used the finite element analysis features to determine how much material we could cut out of the design without compromising Transition’s integrity as a road vehicle. SolidWorks let us be very precise, which was important because every ounce counts in this design.”

“It’s interesting how much reality matches what’s in SolidWorks. All the little details we see on the screen end up in reality, so we can modify the design to eliminate whatever we don’t want in the finished product. If we were working with just physical prototypes, we’d end up sanding those unwanted details off the parts by hand.” (Terrafugia)