Aerocar 2000
{{Infobox aircraft
| name=Aerocar 2000
| image=Aerocar2000.jpg
| caption=A Lotus Elise displayed next to an Aerocar to promote the Aerocar 2000 concept
| type=Flying automobile
| national_origin=United States
| manufacturer=Aerocar
| designer=Ed Sweeney
| first_flight=
| introduction=
| retired=
| status=Halted
| produced=
| primary_user=
| number_built=2 (Non flying)
| developed_from=
| variants=
| developed_into=
}}
The Aerocar 2000 was a proposed flying car under development in the early 2000s in the United States.{{cite journal|last=Grossman|first=John|date=October 1996|title=It's a car! It's a plane!|journal=Boys' Life|publisher=Boy Scouts of America|location=Irving, TX|page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AP8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40}} The Aerocar 2000 was designed by Ed Sweeney,{{cite book|last=Green|first=George W.|title=Flying Cars, Amphibious Vehicles and Other Dual Mode Transports: An Illustrated Worldwide History|year=2010|publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0786445561|page=60}} who was inspired by Moulton Taylor's Aerocar of the 1950s (and is the owner of the only still-flying example of this vehicle).{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Martin J.|author2=Patrick J. Kiger|title=Oops: 20 Life Lessons from the Fiascoes That Shaped America|year=2006|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=978-0060780838|pages=219–220|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_KtvK1ixuYC&q=aerocar}} The Aerocar 2000 consisted of a removable wings, tail, and powerplant "flight module" added to a modified Lotus Elise roadster.{{cite web|url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/4308953|title=Have Our Flying Car Dreams Come True?|last=Grzybala|first=Kim|date=October 1, 2009|work=Popular Mechanics|accessdate=2013-04-25}}
Comparison to original Aerocar
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2013}}
In conception, this was far closer to the AVE Mizar of the early 1970s than to Taylor's designs, the vehicle portions of which were purpose-designed and built. Another difference with the original Aerocar (and similarity to the Mizar) is that the flight module is not designed to be taken away from the airfield. Finally, while the Aerocar used the one engine to drive both the road wheels and the propeller, the Aerocar 2000 (again like the Mizar) uses two separate engines. In the Aerocar 2000's case, the flight engine is a twin-turbocharged V-8 motor from a Lotus Esprit. A far lighter three-cylinder engine and gearbox from a Chevrolet Sprint is to be installed in the road module to power the vehicle on the ground.
Specifications (Aerocar 2000, as designed)
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=imp
|crew=One (pilot)
|capacity=one passenger
|length m=
|length ft=27
|length in=
|length note=
|span m=
|span ft=36
|span in=
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=10
|height in=6
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=2850
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=3450
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Lotus 2.5L
|eng1 type=V8 piston engine
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=350
|eng1 note=
|power original=
|prop blade number=3
|prop name=MT-Propeller constant-speed
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop note=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=
|max speed kts=
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|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=268
|cruise speed kts=
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|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|range km=
|range miles=300
|range nmi=
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|ceiling m=
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|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|climb rate note=
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}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.aerocar.com/}}
{{Flying cars}}
Category:Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States