Flying car to be tested at Pease airport

It's the futuristic Terrafugia, and it's coming to Pease for testing

PORTSMOUTH — Within the next week or so, a Massachusetts company will test a flying car at the Pease airport.

Terrafugia, which is based in Woburn, Mass., is coming to Pease to test modifications to the aileron system of the Transition vehicle, which company Chief Executive Officer Carl Dietrich describes as "an airplane that can be driven down the road and parked in your garage."

Dietrich was not sure exactly when the test would take place at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, and said he preferred not to cite a specific day or time.

"We do not announce those deployments to anyone beyond those who need to know because it is distracting to have other people around when the team is trying to get their work done," he said.

This is another in a continuing series of test flights for the two-seater aircraft that started in March 2009. Other test sites have included the municipal airport in Lawrence, Mass., and the former U.S. Strategic Air Command base in Plattsburgh, N.Y. The upcoming test at the Pease facility is a first.

"Testing at Pease makes a lot of sense for us," Dietrich said. "It's a logical place for us to operate."

Dietrich said the company has to be sensitive to the other activity on the base, particularly the needs of the New Hampshire Air National Guard and its tanker planes. But he said the airport at Pease is ideal for testing because of the length of the runway and the general amount of room that's available.

The company will transport the Transition to Pease with the engineers and the test pilot, retired Col. Phil Meteer, U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Dietrich said he suspects Meteer will get the craft to an altitude between 3,000 and 8,000, or possibly 9,000 feet during the Pease test of the aileron system. The aileron is a hinged surface on the trailing edge of an airplane wing that controls lateral balance.

The Transition has been in development since Terrafugia got its first financing for the project in January 2007, according to Dietrich. Terrafugia, according to the company, takes its name from the Latin for "escape the earth."

"From a corporate perspective, the Transition is a proof of process," Dietrich said, explaining that it is the first flying car to come to market having resolved all the issues with regard to safety as a car, safety as a light sport airplane, as well as insurance, maintenance and licensing. He said it's the first such vehicle that can convert from car to airplane or airplane to car in less than a minute.

"It's like putting the top down on a convertible," he said.

The craft is ideally suited to the flying enthusiast who lives within easy driving distance of an airport that accommodates private planes; there are about 5,000 of those across the country, according to Dietrich. The craft can be driven to the airfield, without the need for a hangar rental.

Someone might opt to drive the Transition to a destination if weather conditions at an airfield make taking off inadvisable.

While the takeoff speed is about 65 mph and the cruising airspeed is about 100 mph, don't expect the craft to be able to just take off from a busy highway.

"That sort of image is the one everybody likes to think about, but that really is science fiction," Dietrich said.

But he notes that Transition is literally a transition craft.

Terrafugia is also developing the TF-X, described by the company as a "four-place fixed-wing aircraft with electrical assist for vertical takeoff and landing." In other words, it can take off and land like a helicopter, requiring a space only about the size of a tennis court, according to Dietrich.

"Our goal (with the TF-X) is to say this is possible and here are the reasons why it's beneficial," Dietrich said. He envisions shopping centers in the future cordoning off areas so patrons coming in to shop in their TF-X will have a place to land.

"This has the potential to get us out of traffic," he said.

The TF-X prototype is being developed, and Dietrich said he expects it'll take another eight to 12 years before there's a viable product. Meanwhile, production of the Transition for customers will occur within the next couple of years, he said.