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| California News Paper Features Roadable Aircraft & US NAVY |
| Ventura County Star Sunday, July 15, 2001 Section B, West County, Page 1 |
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| Navy labs help folks reach for the skies |
| By Raul Hernandez, Staff writer |
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Entrepreneurs armed with blueprints of flying cars and bottles of fuel made from frenchfry grease are knocking at the Navy's door at Point Mugu. The inventors and visionaries are trying to convince Navy engineers that their cars will fly, their biodiesel fuel is cheaper and cleaner for military use, and other such ideas are worth developing and sharing. It's all part of the military's Cooperative Research and Development Agreement program. At Mugu, the Navy is sharing its high-tech laboratories, putting its best engineering minds to work and testing the car, fuel and other ideas. "Whatever they have, they share with us to have this technology transfer," said Aggie Lam Maza, who is trying to get the flying car up and running.
Navy officials are excited about the rotor-wing vehicle that can be driven like a car and flown like a helicopter. In addition to military applications, the flying car could be used for personal and emergency transportation, air shuttles and police surveillance. "This is like a flying Humvee. Picture now, if you have a Humvee, you can now go airborne and also drive it and also put missiles on it," said Mike Sullivan, Western regional coordinator of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer at the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division at Point Mugu.
Maza, president of Roadable Aircraft International in Camarillo, promised she would have a model ready to fly at the Navy's annual air show in March. "We'll be testing on the Navy base this year," said Robert McBride, who dreamed up the flying car. The car is the size of a sedan, with a motorcycle-size engine. It can reach speeds of up to 70 mph on the road and 400 mph in the air, according to McBride. "The military version will have a bigger engine and a lot more power," he said. Initially, the vehicle will come with a $500,000 price tag. But mass production could bring the cost down to $100,000, Maza said. “We are in the midst of testing our model. Let's just say that if you have to go to the airport in the future, you can get it out of your garage, take off and go to a definite area in the airport," said Maza. McBride said the car is set up to run on alcohol or biodiesel. |
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