News: Terrafugia’s street flying car prototype makes maiden flight

The Terrafungia Transition has been under development since 2006 and flying since 2009, however, it was only a month ago that a street-legal version of the $279,000 flying car took flight again. Following approval by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last June, which gave it permission to drive, the company’s “Production Prototype” completed its first flight at Plattsburg International Airport on March 23rd.

The craft flew for about eight minutes and managed to reach an altitude of 1,400 feet as part of the first of six phases of test flights. The firm still needs to show to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the aircraft is safe to fly. Getting such approval will not exactly be an easy thing.

However, this hasn’t stopped some prospective buyers. The company claims it has already got 100+ pre-orders for the convertible plane, mostly from existing pilots who are impressed with the conception of a 35MHG vehicle that uses run-of-the-mill unleaded gasoline and can fit in a single-car garage. The company says it expects to deliver the first lot of production planes to buyers later in the year.