Flying cars by MIT students to be on road by 2011

Now the dream of owning a flying car might just be an reality with the successful test flight of the prototype for the first time this month by MIT students.

The winged car taxied down a runway in Plattsburgh, New York, taking off it flew for 37 seconds.   The Transition is powered on land and in the air by a 100 hp Rotax engine that gets 30 mpg on the highway using regular unleaded gasoline. As a plane, its 20-gallon tank gives it a 450-mile range with a 115 mph speed.

The pilot can switch from one mode to the other from land cruiser to flying machine in about 30 seconds. In the coming months the company, a startup by MIT students called Terrafugia, will further test the plane in a series of ever-longer flights and maneuvers to learn about its handling characteristics, according to a MIT release.

Still, such a vehicle could have more practical appeal now that the Federal Aviation Administration has created a new class of plane -- Light Sport Aircraft -- and a new license category just for pilots of such craft, including Terrafugia's two-seater Transition.

The company is taking deposits now and hopes to start delivering its first Transitions -- or "roadable planes," as the company calls them -- in late 2011. With the Transition, a pilot caught in bad weather could simply land at the nearest airport drive on local roads and take off from another airport once past the storm.