flying cars next generation vehicles
This model has been tested to guard against accidents. Safety
features included in the design are parachutes and internal
and external airbags to allow the passengers a soft landing in
the event of an accident. Furthermore, Mr Moller has added
two back-up computers in case something goes wrong. Mr
Moller states that his flying car is able to fly from airports
and heliports. However, in the future it will be possible to
land at ‘vertiports’, which will include fields, parking lots,
private properties, shopping centres or skyscraper roofs.
According to Mr Moller, the benefits of this new technology
will be quite remarkable. Firstly, the effect on the environment
will be of maximum importance, as flying cars will reduce
air and noise pollution levels considerably. People will be free
of traffic jams and will have more flexible lifestyles and travel
times. When these vehicles become popular, then people will
have freedom of choice between rural and urban lifestyles,
as they will be able to live in a village near a small airport
and fly to their workplace in the city hundreds of miles away.
Therefore, there won’t be much of a need for roads or large
airports anymore, only ‘vertiports’. Mr Moller believes that
by the year 2040, our idea of travel will have changed as well
as our habits. For example, a ‘Highway in the Sky’ or a similar
system will have replaced concrete roads and traffic signs.
Whatever the future holds, it seems very likely that our
children will be ‘volanting’ from small airports or ‘vertiports’
instead of breathing harmful exhaust fumes. However, it will
be decades before the ordinary consumer is able to afford
this technology.
Ask any science fan about the future and they
will most definitely tell you that it will be
full of flying cars - where drivers may become optional!
Many researchers, scientists and engineers see personal
air transport as the inevitable solution to the problem of
congested roads or airports that suffer from delays.
At first, it was a dream to combine a car with an aeroplane.
However, a flying car was considered to be too heavy, costly
to design and inefficient. Another problem was that you had
to be a pilot with a certified licence in order to fly one.
Now, with modern lightweight materials and computer
technology, a number of inventors and small companies
are working on their own individual versions of flying cars,
which they hope will dramatically change air travel. NASA is
developing a control programme called ‘Highway in the Sky’,
which is something similar to a modern air traffic control
system, where thousands of flying cars will be able to operate
simultaneously without running the risk of crashing into
one another. Dr Bruce Holmes, NASA’s manager of General
Aviation Programs, states that in the future automatic flying
cars will be operating without human pilots, as onboard
computers will fly and negotiate with other flying cars’
computers and with ground stations that will determine who
can land or fly at a particular altitude.
Paul Moller, Chief Executive of Moller International and
developer of the flying skycar M400, spent 40 years and
millions of dollars designing, building and testing the
personal aircraft. In 1989, he designed and tested the M200X
and later the M400, which can reach cruising speeds of up
to 350 mph at an altitude of 50 ft. Technically speaking, this
flying car is known as a ‘volantor’, which is defined as ‘a
vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is capable of flying
quickly and easily.’ This allows the flying car to be flexible
like a helicopter without losing the speed of a fast aircraft.
It runs on petrol, diesel, alcohol or propane and its fuel
consumption is comparable to that of a medium-sized car.
25
A. Complete the chart with the verbs in the box.
Some of the verbs can be found in the text on page
25 and some may be followed by more than one
preposition.
VOCABULARY
NOTE
Many verbs are followed by prepositions.
Sometimes more than one preposition can be
correct depending on the use of the verb.
This model has been tested to guard against accidents. Safety
features included in the design are parachutes and internal
and external airbags to allow the passengers a soft landing in
the event of an accident. Furthermore, Mr Moller has added
two back-up computers in case something goes wrong. Mr
Moller states that his flying car is able to fly from airports
and heliports. However, in the future it will be possible to
land at ‘vertiports’, which will include fields, parking lots,
private properties, shopping centres or skyscraper roofs.
According to Mr Moller, the benefits of this new technology
will be quite remarkable. Firstly, the effect on the environment
will be of maximum importance, as flying cars will reduce
air and noise pollution levels considerably. People will be free
of traffic jams and will have more flexible lifestyles and travel
times. When these vehicles become popular, then people will
have freedom of choice between rural and urban lifestyles,
as they will be able to live in a village near a small airport
and fly to their workplace in the city hundreds of miles away.
Therefore, there won’t be much of a need for roads or large
airports anymore, only ‘vertiports’. Mr Moller believes that
by the year 2040, our idea of travel will have changed as well
as our habits. For example, a ‘Highway in the Sky’ or a similar
system will have replaced concrete roads and traffic signs.
Whatever the future holds, it seems very likely that our
children will be ‘volanting’ from small airports or ‘vertiports’
instead of breathing harmful exhaust fumes. However, it will
be decades before the ordinary consumer is able to afford
this technology.
Ask any science fan about the future and they
will most definitely tell you that it will be
full of flying cars - where drivers may become optional!
Many researchers, scientists and engineers see personal
air transport as the inevitable solution to the problem of
congested roads or airports that suffer from delays.
At first, it was a dream to combine a car with an aeroplane.
However, a flying car was considered to be too heavy, costly
to design and inefficient. Another problem was that you had
to be a pilot with a certified licence in order to fly one.
Now, with modern lightweight materials and computer
technology, a number of inventors and small companies
are working on their own individual versions of flying cars,
which they hope will dramatically change air travel. NASA is
developing a control programme called ‘Highway in the Sky’,
which is something similar to a modern air traffic control
system, where thousands of flying cars will be able to operate
simultaneously without running the risk of crashing into
one another. Dr Bruce Holmes, NASA’s manager of General
Aviation Programs, states that in the future automatic flying
cars will be operating without human pilots, as onboard
computers will fly and negotiate with other flying cars’
computers and with ground stations that will determine who
can land or fly at a particular altitude.
Paul Moller, Chief Executive of Moller International and
developer of the flying skycar M400, spent 40 years and
millions of dollars designing, building and testing the
personal aircraft. In 1989, he designed and tested the M200X
and later the M400, which can reach cruising speeds of up
to 350 mph at an altitude of 50 ft. Technically speaking, this
flying car is known as a ‘volantor’, which is defined as ‘a
vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is capable of flying
quickly and easily.’ This allows the flying car to be flexible
like a helicopter without losing the speed of a fast aircraft.
It runs on petrol, diesel, alcohol or propane and its fuel
consumption is comparable to that of a medium-sized car.
25
A. Complete the chart with the verbs in the box.
Some of the verbs can be found in the text on page
25 and some may be followed by more than one
preposition.
VOCABULARY
NOTE
Many verbs are followed by prepositions.
Sometimes more than one preposition can be
correct depending on the use of the verb.
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