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This is the second report about a new program on personal aviation at The University of Arizona. The motive for the program is a belief that advanced information technologies like the Global Positioning System (GPS) have made possible a personal aviation system on a scale last imagined fifty years ago. Research on differential GPS for precision navigation is described briefly, but the report is mainly about design concepts for a Starcar, a transformer vehicle that functions as an automobile or airplane. A Starcar is a composition of three components: passenger module, road module, and sky module. The passenger and road module together make an automobile, and the passenger and sky module are an airplane. Because the road module does not fly, a Starcar in flight proves to be nearly as efficient as the best of modern kit airplanes.

This paper reviews the status of personal aviation and proposes that information technology has made possible a personal aviation industry on a scale last imagined in the nineteen forties. The market goal of the system is 100 thousand sales per year, 100 times more than the current sales of general aviation airplanes. Seven specifications are set forth to meet the goal. They concern price, liability, performance, control, convenience, safety, and environmental impact. Helicopters and lift fans are examined in light of the specifications, but a kind of flying car seems more plausible. Personal aviation emerges as a system of three levels, including the Global Positioning System for navigation, an infrastructure called Skyways, and modular conveyances called Starcars that function as automobiles and airplanes. The system is under study at The University of Arizona, where a base station and mobile platform have been built to explore means for navigation, communication, and control.

This paper explores a new transportation concept based on a confluence of aeronautical, automotive, and information technologies. The concept employs the Navstar Global Positioning System for navigation and control, Skyways to manage flight operations, and Starcars that function as automobiles and airplanes. The role of the Global Positioning System is to locate the Starcars within the Skyways accurately enough to facilitate automatic landings. To prove the feasibility of precision GPS control, we equipped an automobile with a differential GPS control system and sophisticated estimation software. The vehicle can steer itself around a prescribed path with accuracies within 1 m. Modern kit airplanes are about ten times more efficient than automobiles for travel at high speeds. The paper presents a specific Starcar design that combines features of a Lancair 320 airplane and Mazda RX-7 automobile.

Starcar 3 is being designed at The University of Arizona as a platform to demonstrate technologies important to the future of personal aviation. Among them are the Global Positioning System for precision guidance and control, automobile engines for propulsion, structural methods compatible with comfort and safety, and vehicle transformation to combine the benefits of automobiles and airplanes. Starcar 3 is a system of three modules: road module, passenger module, and sky module. The passenger and road modules together form a good automobile, and the passenger and sky modules together are a good airplane. This paper describes the road module, passenger module structure, rear suspension, sky module propulsion, and sky module structure. The road module presently is based on a Honda 1.6 liter engine mounted transversely for front-wheel drive.