eBay find of the day: Sky Commuter Prototype
Looking for something really exotic? Do your vehicular leanings include more than just cars? If so, have we got the auction for you. What you see here is the very last Sky Commuter Prototype in existence. While we would imagine that this vehicle will end up somewhere in a museum or in the clutches of a rich collector, the auction lister believes that it would be "for the most part functional after learning the power source," for whatever that's worth. Speaking of worth, at the time that this was written, the highest bid was $45,300.00, but we'd expect that to change soon enough. The Sky Commuter is registered with the FAA with a valid number, so it appears that the information in the listing is legit.
Our research is leading us to believe that each and every time one of these machines was lifted off the ground, it crashed. We don't say this very often, but our advice would be to leave this one a true, dedicated trailer-queen.
Gallery: Sky Car
[Source: eBay]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shawn 12:11AM (9/19/2008)
I've moved this car from one end of the hanger to the other. It's a total pile and would never work. It's a private collection piece now.
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Ben H. 6:13PM (1/12/2008)
..or buy from here:
www.moller.com
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MachinaDC5 6:20PM (1/12/2008)
Well, if it doesn't have a GM badge on it then it instantly gets branded as "bland" anyway, so I'll just save everybody the trouble and take the point.
BLAND
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www.granitecalgary.com 8:31PM (1/12/2008)
this is something we need with the project gas prices @ $1.50/L CDN this summer
http://www.granitecalgary.com
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JimboNC 8:30PM (1/12/2008)
Just what I wanted a car that looks like the nose/cockpit of an F-16 fighter. I can see why the other proto-models crashed, no lateral control, just up and down.
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mk 9:21PM (1/12/2008)
Doesn't look all that efficient.
The ducted fans are pretty deep, and the rear ones are even more shrouded from intake airflow in forward motion.
I doubt that fiberglass is going to survive the exhaust from whatever powerplant lives, or can live back there. A small helicopter turboshaft would make a bit of sense, with a torque-biasing gearbox to control the fans under gyro control.
That is a pretty small vehicle for that sort of engine, and there is NOWHERE for fuel for that.
The interior is odd. Only one control stick doesn't make sense. ANY rotorcraft needs more controls than that. Yaw, Pitch, Roll and throttle. One stick isn't going to cut it.
Helicopters require a cyclic and collective control, the collective usually twists for throttle, AND they have yaw pedals, aside from the Comanche project, which had the cyclic stick also twist for yaw control. Something tells me this doesn't have the Comanche helicopter's triple-redundant fly-by-wire controls.
This does look like it might have variable pitch fans, which means even more control required. And somehow I don't think a row of unlabeled switches and knobs, and a CRT screen is going to accomplish that.
This looks more like a movie prop than an actual aircraft. I don't think I would try to get a pilot's license to be the test pilot of this thing.
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Quattrofan 11:54AM (1/13/2008)
Thanks for a nice elaborate explanation to Capt. Obvious.
Taylor 9:16PM (1/12/2008)
Yet there's no pics of it flying.
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Nacon 9:25PM (1/12/2008)
I wouldn't try flying that ......thing. Whatever it's called.
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ilya Abdurakhmanov 10:14PM (1/12/2008)
If you want to see the next flying car visit my site at:
http://www.elushkas.com/flying-car.htm
Ilya A.
www.elushkas.com
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ilya Abdurakhmanov 4:22AM (1/13/2008)
If you want to see the next flying car visit my site at:
http://www.elushkas.com/flying-car.htm
Ilya A.
www.elushkas.com
Reply