You’ve always known it was just a matter of time before the world demanded some kind of flying machine which would replace the automobile and a US company is setting about doing just that. Moller International has claimed to develop a personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle.
Using a principle similar to that of the British Harrier jump jet, the Moller Skycar volantor incorporates a patented thrust deflection vane system that redirects thrust, enabling it to hover or to takeoff and land vertically from almost any surface. This capability plus the added safety of ducted fans makes it ideal for a wide variety of commercial and military applications. These include private and charter air travel, express delivery, news gathering, border patrol, police and fire work, and search and rescue, to name just a few.
Several prototype designs have been shown over the years including several that look like a flying saucer, One of the last designs known as the M400x Skycar resulted in a prototype that was powered by eight rotary engines (two in each of the 4 engine nacelles). It was claimed that the Skycar can burn almost any fuel from diesel to natural gas. The engines developed by the company are a rotary engine that they call the rotapower, they are said to be light weight and contain only two major moving parts. It is claimed that if one or more of the engines fail the Skycar will still operate safely and even if all eight engines fail two parachutes could bring the Skycar to a soft landing.
Don’t sell your car just yet, the Skycar is currently only in prototype and while it underwent tethered testing in the early 2000’s, no one has seen the Skycar take to the sky. As of 2019 the Skycar project is on hold while the company focus moves to marketing their rotary engine that was developed for the Skycar. Even if work ever resumes on the Skycar there are several other hurdles are also yet to be overcome like licensing Skycar drivers, where to takeoff and land and how to manage the network of Skycar traffic. The later Moller is proposing to be managed by a type of automated GPS based system that has yet to be developed.
