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This paper describes a project to build a practical flying car called Starcar 4. The vehicle actually is more like a flying motorcycle, since it uses three wheels on the road. It has a single seat and weighs a little less than 1200 lbs, so it could be certified as a primary class airplane. The vehicle is practical in the sense that it is about as light and simple as its mission allows. A single engine is used to propel the vehicle on the road and in the air. When not in use, the wings hang on the sides, and the driver plugs them into the fuselage when he wants to fly. Most functions serve in both road and sky modes. The driver can do an aerodynamic wheelie on the ground, and he will shift into fourth gear when he reaches cruise altitude.

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.

Starcar 4 is now a road vehicle, ready to be licensed as a motorcycle in the State of Colorado. The vehicle at present is a bare chassis resembling a three-wheel dune buggy. Six people have tested the vehicle so far, and all have pronounced it fun to drive. The vehicle is capable of acceleration up to at least 0.87 g’s, at which point it lifts its nose in a stable “wheelie”. The turning radius is tight, and the vehicle can U-turn on streets measuring 36 ft from curb to curb. Drivers quickly become comfortable with the joystick steering except near zero speeds, when the front wheel tends to flop to one side or the other. The ride is pleasant but stiff at the light weight of the bare chassis, and the steering at road speeds is stiff as well, though not uncomfortably so. The only negative findings are that the steering forces are high at parking lot speeds, and the chassis is about 85 lbs heavier than projected.