Tag: Paul Moller

Skycar Update: China is going to beat us to the future

I received a note the other night that disturbed me greatly from one of the people in this world that I truly admire. I won’t reveal the details of that note since it contains personal information. But the gist of the correspondence is that it appears that China is on the verge of investing over a billion dollars in Skycar technology’s Rotapower engine to begin the process of development of that engine which makes the Skycar possible. To understand what Skycars are, click here to review my article on them.

I have been seeking to pull together all the interested parties to get the United States into the game going as far as contacting President Obama, and General Motors after the bail-out, to help us rediscover ourselves. But there was no response from Obama or General Motors. They aren’t interested in new technology, only the old.

So China is getting ready to usher in this technology for all the reasons that you’ll hear in the below broadcast of Doc Thompson as Doc discusses how the EPA shut down oil drilling in Alaska. We are our own worst enemy in the United States because too many special interests are getting in the way of development of new technology.

I have been speaking to this company Mollar International for well over 15 years, and what prompted my recent discussion with them was the need of an accurate launch period for their technology so I could do what I could to bring everyone together in America. But as was explained to me in the undisclosed letter, most of the investors in Mollar International, and Freedom Motors, are foreign investors, even though the inventor is as American as there is in our modern age. So as he explained, it’s not his first choice, but it is out of necessity. He has to go where the money is, and the desire to produce his product will take him, and right now it’s China.

Below I will disclose the non-confidential portions of my correspondence with Mollar International so the reader can see what is coming in the near future. Unfortunately because the United States is over-regulated and drags it’s feet in too many ways, it will be China that will be first.

First the letter from me to Bruce, then the response from Bruce.

Hi Bruce,

I was wondering how close your company is to a working model that could perform as a shuttle service beginning with a line running from West Chester, Ohio to Columbus.

Once Skycar performed the shuttle service for key people of this region and gained media, and political support, it would become viable for an amusement park such as Kings Island to offer a transport to Cedar Point. Both amusement parks are owned by Cedar Fair Amusements and would benefit by offering pass holders an economic way to visit both parks within the same day with their Platinum season pass offerings. The two parks are about 300 miles apart and they have a platinum package that allows season pass holders to visit those two parks for free. So a Skycar shuttle would be a great asset to their business model, and a great way to introduce the technology to the public at large and establish trust in the vehicles. Those two amusement parks are two of the largest and most spectacular in the country. A successful implementation of this type of shuttle service would then convince the Disney Parks in Florida to offer a similar shuttle service from their parks in central Florida to their cruise line in Port Canaveral.

This is something I have been considering for a while, but I believe all the above is very possible. I suppose the big question would be as to whether or not your Skycar is technically able to perform the task as of now, and if not, is there a time line that is reasonable so that I could begin to pitch this concept to the interested parties.

I’d be interested in knowing more details if you could provide them.

Thanks,

Rich

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Rich,
As you know the Moller M400 Skycar is in development, and the working prototype of the M400X has successfully completed its initial hover tests. Unfortunately we are still having difficulties raising the required capital to move forward with our announced plans, therefore our present business plan calls for production of 1,000 of the M200G Neuera over the next 3+ years (2011 through 2014). We can produce this vehicle at much lower cost because of the very limited regulatory oversight that a vehicle of this type appears to require (it is a “ground effect” aircraft and therefore exempt from the traditional certification process and may not require a pilots license to operate).

The interest shown to date in this vehicle suggests that the early production models could be sold at a premium price. It is proposed that the first 40 units of the M200G be sold by auction. If a buyer indicates an interest in acquiring a M200G he will be put on a list of potential buyers. When that list totals some yet-to-be-specified number, the auction will begin. While this will require our resources to focus on the M200-series products for the next couple of years, it should enable us to raise sufficient funds to regain momentum on the M400 Skycar thereafter.

The next phase of the M400 testing will be to extend the hover flight characteristics with manned and untethered flights. We have prepared the M400X for the new, more powerful Rotapower engines required for this phase, and are working to integrate these engines with updated electronics being made for the M200 that make up the artificial stability system. When we get to the next set of tests with the M400 we will endeavor to safely demonstrate the new features with a set of piloted test flights defined by the FAA for an Experimental Aircraft.

After the completion of these tests, will hope to build up to three M400 pre-production aircraft that will incorporate changes to the fuselage and cabin and prepare us for high-speed, and mid-air VTOL to high-speed cruise transition maneuvers. It is our intent to test the full-scale preproduction Skycar in a wind tunnel to validate the transition characteristics prior to performing this transition in flight, but high-speed flight tests may be performed that originate with the nacelles (engine pods) in the horizontal position rather than their VTOL-mode orientation of 45 degrees of rotation. These tests will require that the Skycar use a conventional runway for take off and landing and will be required only for these tests. The Skycar’s VTOL mode take off and landing capabilities will continue to be demonstrated during other low-speed test flights. The earliest we anticipate an FAA certified production Skycar is now 2013, and due to the many milestones yet to be achieved it is very difficult to set an actual schedule of availability.

Regards,

Bruce Calkins
General Manager
Moller International
www.moller.com

 

Skycar is a very exciting technology. Unfortunately for the United States, Wilber and Orville Wright wouldn’t be able to fly a plane in Kitty Hawk, and Edison probably couldn’t develop a light bulb today, because the EPA would worry about the displacement of sand on a beach from where the plane lands or the elements of a bulb would be considered dangerous for the environment. So we are our own worst enemy.

I will always feel pride to know that the United States still produces people like Paul Mollar who invented the Skycar, but it will be the Chinese that will most likely take the bold first step.

Rich Hoffman

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Fly A SkyCar Today: The Future of Transportation

So how does America become a primary manufacturer again, where we are exporting something the rest of the world wants, instead of being a primary importer? It seems like a daunting task, after all, we’ve lost the car market to the East, the computer age was born here, but now is developing in the East, and we are no longer pushing the space race in America. In order to recapture the technological lead on the world stage, America would have to invent something dramatically, and radically new, that every person on the face of the planet would want.

Let me introduce the M400 Skycar. It’s a personal Skycar with a top speed of 350 MPH and has a range of 750 miles and a flight ceiling of 30,000 feet. It is the future. Now, there are a lot of videos here. This is one of the rare times that I’ll say the videos are more important than the text I provide. So take your time and watch the videos, all of them. And pass this link on to a friend so the word can get out. I believe this is extremely important to the United States in 2011 and on.

I’ve followed the work of Paul Moller for most of my life and am a tremendous fan of his. So much so, that I dedicated a large part of my book The Symposium of Justice to the M400 Skycar in hopes that the military would see the potential for applications, and get the ball rolling.

Paul Moller is the equivalent to the modern-day Henry Ford, or Bill Gates. His idea could be just as explosive if only politics would embrace the concept and accept that highways, manufacturing unions, and current aerospace manufacturers and their government contracts, are becoming obsolete. Can you imagine the changes that would have to take place in the airline industry? Can you imagine the airline industry lobby against the Skycar concept? Do you think GE would want this technology to emerge unless they had their feet already in the game, which they don’t? If the TSA employees join a union, can you imagine the protests trying to protect their jobs that would be leaving as people gained the independence of personal transport and wouldn’t need TSA Security any longer; all the vehicles would be controlled by GPS Systems? Nobody would be running into buildings with these things because they’d just be riding around like a passenger while computers do all the flying. Of the large aerospace companies, only Boeing has entertained the construction of Skycars so far, so the protective interests are actively in place.

I gave a Powerpoint, to John Boehner so he could possibly do something to help with the lobbyist politics that exist on K-Street and other places so the M400 Skycar could enter the marketplace. I also sent the same Powerpoint to the current President and to the head of General Motors, giving them the idea to “re-invent” themselves. They of course are committed to building electric cars, which will soon be irrelevant.

Does it work? Yes! Now that these tests are completed and on the record, even if Moller never gets this M400 into production, the steps have been taken, and a vertical takeoff personal vehicle will emerge for personal use. The sky is the future because it costs less to maintain and eliminates costly infrastructure need. There will always be need for highways for shipping reasons, but personal transportation of 50 miles or more needs to go to the air. That might seem like science fiction, but it’s currently science fact. All that fact needs is for public consciousness to catch up and accept the technology, and that will happen when people understand how they’ll benefit.

Here is the testing of stability in flight, hovering controls. Pretty important so the vehicle can land in a parking lot with reliability. This is one of the most difficult technical feats the vehicle had to overcome, and it has been successful.

So who is Paul Moller? Meet him here. He has testified before congress on this issue and has worked with NASA. This entire infrastructure is in place now. All it will take to bring it to a reality is for you to demand it. Paul will explain the whole concept, just listen, and enjoy.





I personally can’t wait to have one. For my life style, it will be perfect. I could be in New York within a morning, take care of my business, and be back that night for dinner without any difficulty. Same for Atlanta, Chicago and Washington D.C. since all those cities are within 500 miles from Cincinnati. In other places around the country, the trip from LA to Las Vegas would be minutes, and from San Fran to LA under an hour with most of the flight time being accent and descent. New Yorker’s could be out of the city and up into Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts within an hour. No traffic because the GPS system would stack all the destinations at different elevations. Weather conditions would be the only variable, but conditions would be favorable over 95% of the time. Only heavy wind and thunderstorms would prevent flight.

Image the trip from London to Paris, which currently takes a few hours by their high-speed rail system that goes under the English Channel from the time you buy your ticket, get on the train, and arrive at your destination. You could literally travel from the British Museum of Natural History and arrive at The Louver Museum in well under an hour including getting into the Skycar and exiting.

However, there is a lot of resistance to the Skycar out there, particularly from the existing infrastructure, and politics and I have a sincere concern that Paul Moller’s dream may be all too reminiscent of one of my personal hero’s, Preston Tucker. If you don’t know the story, Tucker was a GREAT car builder and was WAY ahead of his time. His car was so ahead of its time that the Big Three put pressure on the government to prosecute Tucker though Senator Ferguson, who was taking lobby money from the Big Three, before he could launch his car to the public. Listen to this clip from the film Tucker: A Man and His Dream as delivered by Jeff Bridges.


This is one of my favorite films. If you haven’t seen it you are missing a classic from Executive Producer George Lucas and Director Francis Ford Coppela.

I don’t want to see Paul Moller become a Preston Tucker. I see dramatic parallels between the two men. I think Moller is a lot more level-headed, and more classical engineering minded where Tucker was a salesman first and an engineer second, Moller has the great ability to stay out of trouble.

Eventually, the Big Three automakers would adapt to the innovations that Tucker introduced in 1948, by the 1970’s. If we were a smart society, we’d learn from history and listen to Paul Moller now, and not shove him into the corner to protect the status quo, and put off technology we need today. Because we may lose it to the East, or to a costly two or three decades only to have it emerge in the distant future anyway. It’s really up to the United States.

Tucker died shortly after his trial, which he was of course innocent, but the experience cost him market delivery of his vastly superior automobile. The Big Three grudgingly adopted many of Tucker’s features but not for another 20 years. The Big Three didn’t want to absorb the cost of competition, so they put him out of business. And that is the problem that Paul Moller will have to overcome. It’s not the technical obstacles that are the problem. It’s the political ones that hold back our country. Here is Tucker’s story.




You can have the world you want if you have the courage to put horse-sense ahead of politics. If that happens, then you could have a Skycar to drive and fly within a decade. You may have a job in the Skycar emerging field in the same time frame, and the United States could return to the world stage as a primary manufacturer of something the rest of the world wants, while China and Japan continue to make cars, which will decline in importance, and become a secondary market item similar in usefulness to a motorcycle or bicycle, and certainly high-speed rail which is next to useless compared to Skycar technology.

But I suspect that history will repeat itself and Paul Moller will go the way of Tucker obscurity, and our great nation the United States will too drift into the cloudy recesses of a foggy morning in history, which once lifted everyone, will wonder if the fog had ever been at all.

It’s up to you.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com