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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 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.

This paper records progress on design and construction of a roadable airplane called Starcar 4. Starcar 4 is intended to be simple, with one seat, two wing panels, three wheels, and a gross weight of 1200 lbs. The wing panels are removed by hand and hung on the sides for road travel. The core of the structure is a 4130 steel tube frame, covered by a composite aeroshell. The propulsion system is based on a modified Subaru motor and four wheel drive transaxle, which drives a pusher propeller in place of a rear axle. The project has been underway since late 1996 and was first published at the 1997 World Aviation Congress. Engineering design is now well advanced, a wood frame mockup has been built, and the chassis is under construction for delivery at the end of 1998. Road tests will take place in 1999, and the aeroshell and wings should be completed in the year 2000.

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.

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.