梦想成真：全球首辆会飞的汽车

MIT graduate Carl Dietrich co-founded Terrafugia, which is now taking preorders for the science fiction fan's ultimate dream: a $194,000 flying car

一家由麻省理工（MIT）的研究生Carl Dietrich与人合办、名为Terrafugia的公司现正接受其产品预购订单——一个所有科幻小说迷的终极梦想：售价19.4万美元的飞行汽车。

Designing the world's first commercially viable flying car presents unique engineering challenges. One is manufacturing an airplane engine that doesn't overheat when idling in traffic. Another is incorporating both car and aircraft navigation features—steering wheel, control stick, gas and rudder pedals—in a two-person cockpit. The founders of Terrafugia in Woburn, Mass., never doubted they'd get the engineering right. "We always knew we could do it from a technical standpoint," says Carl Dietrich, a co-founder of the company. He'll soon find out whether he nailed the business angle.

设计世界上第一辆具有商用价值的飞行汽车意味着独一无二的挑战：首先要制造一个能在空载飞行时不发生过热的飞行器引擎；其次，要将包括方向盘、控制手柄、燃气和方向舵踏板在内的汽车和飞行器的导航装置整合在一个双人的驾驶舱内。Terrafugia公司位于马塞诸塞州沃本市，其创始人从未质疑过他们在工程上的正确性。这家公司的创始人之一Carl Dietrich表示：“我们始终清楚从技术角度来说我们可以实现。”他不久就会清楚是否从商业角度来说他也一样正确。

In June, Terrafugia (Latin for "escape from land") cleared a significant hurdle when the Federal Aviation Administration granted its car-plane, the Transition, an exemption so that it can include air bags and other car safety features. These devices put the contraption 110 pounds over the normal weight limit for light aircraft. Now the Transition, which weighs 1,430 pounds, or roughly half as much as a Mini Cooper, is a step closer to becoming the first "street-legal plane," as the company's founders call it.

六月份的时候，Terrafugia（拉丁文意为“逃离地面”）公司获得了联邦航空管理局特许，允许他们在其飞行汽车上安装安全气囊和其他汽车安全装置，这为他们的产品诞生扫除了一个很大的障碍。这些安全装置让这个原本110磅的巧妙设计的机器重量达到1430磅，相当于一辆Mini Cooper的车重的一半，超过了轻型飞行器的最低重量要求。这使得他们的飞行器向着被公司创始人称为“能在街上开的飞机”又进了一步。

The Transition transforms from plane to car and vice versa in "about the time it takes to lower the top on a convertible," says Dietrich, 33. The vehicle must take off and land at an airport; once in the air, it can range 460 miles at a speed of 110 miles per hour. On the ground, its wings collapse in two and fold along its sides.

Dietrich说Transition（译者注：这款飞行汽车名字）可以在“一辆敞篷车降低其顶蓬的时间内”完成从飞机到汽车的转变，反之亦然。这款飞行汽车必须在机场起飞和降落；一旦升空，它可以以110迈的速度最多飞行460英里。在地面行驶时，它的双翼可以折叠成两部分收缩在两侧。

The limousine-length Transition can zip along highways at a little over 60 mph. It runs on premium unleaded gasoline, which is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than jet fuel.

这款相当于一辆房车长度的Transition飞行汽车可以在高速公路上以60迈的速度驰骋。它以优质无铅汽油燃料，不仅比飞机燃料更便宜，也更环保。

Dietrich started working in earnest on the project in 2004, when the FAA created a new classification for light sport aircraft. The category loosened manufacturing requirements and halved the flight time necessary for a pilot's license to just 20 hours. Those changes, along with advances in composite materials and computer avionics, convinced Dietrich and two co-founders, who met as graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that they could build a flying car and compete in the $1 billion single-engine aviation industry.

Dietrich在2004年正式着手这个项目的研发工作，当时联邦航管局（FAA）设立了针对轻型飞行器新的分类方案，这个分类方案放宽了生产要求并将飞行员执照的必要飞行时间缩减了一半，只需20小时。有了这些调整，加上在复合材料和计算机航空电子学方面的进步，Dietrich和其他两位在MIT结识的创始人确信他们可以建造一辆飞行汽车，在产值10亿美元的单引擎飞行器市场分一杯羹。

Terrafugia has collected more than 80 down payments for the $194,000 vehicle and plans to start deliveries by the end of 2011. Within five years it hopes to produce between 300 and 400 annually.

Terrafugia目前已经收到了超过80份订金订购这一售价19.4万美元飞行器，并计划在2011年底开始交货。该公司希望在五年内达到年产300到400辆的水平。

"I'm sure it'll find a niche," says Richard L. Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. "But it has to be for a very rich population in wide-open areas: aviation-minded multi-millionaires in Iowa."

“我相信这个产品能找到其市场定位，”蒂尔集团（Teal Group）的航空分析师Richard L. Aboulafia表示，“但它必须以那些生活在拥有广阔空间地区的富裕人群为目标客户：在爱荷华州生活并有意购买飞行器的百万富翁们。”

So far, the only person to have flown the Transition is Terrafugia's test pilot, Philip Meteer, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. The experience, he says, was "remarkably unremarkable."

到目前为止，唯一驾驶Transition飞行过的人是Terrafugia公司的试飞员Philip Meteer，他是一位已退休的美国空军上校。他称这次体验“非常的平常”。

Challenge

挑战

Create the world's first commercially viable "street-legal plane"

制造世界首个具有商用价值的“能在街上开的飞机”

Background

背景

Met his co-founders in grad school at MIT

与合作伙伴在麻省理工研究生院结识

Specs

技术参数

460-mile range; 110 mph cruising speed; uses premium gasoline

460英里巡航距离；110迈巡航速度；以优质汽油为燃料

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