Flying-Car Wreck Attorney: Did Your Parachute Deploy?

The summer is a time when many of us pause while on vacation or at a slow day in the office and wonder about our future. What will our business be like this time next year? This time ten years from now? What are the big-picture changes facing us? As the economy shifts and elections heat-up, a lot of Americans are wondering about our futures and the future of our industries.

One invention, in particular, has really got me thinking. As a personal injury lawyer who helps clients who have been injured in car wrecks, I try to keep an eye on major changes in the auto industry including April’s New York City auto show.  At this past April’s show the world’s first legitimate flying car was revealed. That’s right, a flying car.

The Massachusetts company Terrafugia has been working on flying cars since 2006, and their latest model called “Transition” is the real deal. It has all the specs you’d expect for a car like rear-wheel drive and all the auto crash-safety features. From airbags to parachutes this car is a marvel of engineering. I only wish they had painted it a different color.  (If you’re going to drive a flying car, wouldn’t you want it to be red?)

Imagine Yourself Flying the Transition

Just think about a day with a flying car. In the morning you can turn to your spouse and say, “honey, traffic on 35 looks bad, I’m going to fly it instead.” First you drive to the gas station to fill it up your eye-catching machine, and then head down the highway going 70 mph towards the airport. Once you get there, the wings of the car fold down until you’re ready to lift off.  The car then flies at a speedy 115 miles per hour and has flown as high as 1,400 feet.

Worried about gas mileage? Don’t be! The Transition gets 35 miles per gallon on the road and 5 gallons per hour in the air. You can fill the whole 23-gallon tank up at a Seven-Eleven near you.  Worried that you won’t be able to fly the car if you can’t pilot a plane? Turns out, that for less time than it took you to get a driver’s license you could be in the air. According to the Terrafugia sales pitch, “Become a Sport Pilot in as little as 20 hours of flight time.”

Too Good to Be True?

The only one hitch in this future wonderland – the current price tag of this dream-come-true. With deposits on models starting at $10,000 (several have bought in already) the car itself is valued at a heart-wrenching $279,000. Still, this is just the beginning.  I better spend my summer vacation cleaning out the garage so one day there’ll be room. Who knows, maybe it won’t be so long from now that the Rasansky Law Firm is blazing the trail in Texas Flying Car Law.

Category: Legal Briefs