{"id":19101,"date":"2013-04-07T22:25:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T22:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomasjpitts.co.uk\/wp\/?p=19101"},"modified":"2013-04-07T22:25:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T22:25:55","slug":"day-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjpitts.co.uk\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/07\/day-97\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 97: A Decent Flying Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kit has had an odd old day. She has been in a funny mood all day – not really wanting to play, but wanting to play, not really interested in food, but wanting to be interested in food… those kind of things. Haven’t been able to keep her happy at all. Hopefully, she’ll be ok in the morning.<\/p>\n

I did a bit of work – I have a bit of a problem that I needed to make a decision about before going much further. I won’t bore you with the details of it, but that choice has been sorted for now so I can carry on.<\/p>\n

Mrs Pitts’ sister is over from Morecambe tomorrow for the week, so plans are being made for the week ahead. Looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

Band was good. Quite a few people who are making return appearances after quite a hiatus. Not sure how long they will be around but the sound of the group was very pleasant tonight. This was particularly obvious to me on percussion as most of the pieces we played tonight didn’t involve any form of bashing and so I had the absolute pleasure of listening to some wonderful playing.<\/p>\n

After band, a cache (GC46HE5), and a quick pizza as we were hungry, QI XL<\/a> Series 9, Episode 6, “Inventive”, was on Dave. Nothing massively odd or\u00a0interesting about that, but this snippet of information\u00a0intrigued\u00a0me. It was about the AVE Mizar<\/a>, a road based flying machine.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0prototypes\u00a0of the Mizar were made by mating the rear portion of a\u00a0Cessna Skymaster<\/a>\u00a0to a\u00a0Ford Pinto<\/a>.\u00a0The pod-and-twin-boom\u00a0configuration of the Skymaster was a convenient starting point for a hybrid automobile\/airplane. The passenger space and front engine of the Skymaster were removed, leaving an<\/p>\n

\"English:<\/a>
English: Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) Mizar [1973] N68X Oxnard Airport, Oxnard, California – August 1973 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>airframe ready to attach to a small car. AVE planned to have their own airframe purpose-built by a subcontractor for production models, rather than depending on\u00a0Cessna\u00a0for airframes.<\/sup>According to\u00a0Peterson’s Complete Ford Book<\/i>, by mid-1973, two prototypes had been built and three more were under construction. One prototype was slated for static display at Galpin Ford, owned by AVE partner Bert Boeckmann<\/a> of\u00a0Sepulveda, California. The other prototype, fitted with a\u00a0Teledyne Continental Motors<\/a>\u00a0210 horsepower (160\u00a0kW<\/a>) engine, was unveiled to the press on May 8, 1973. It then began a series of taxi tests at\u00a0Van Nuys, California<\/a>. AVE made special arrangements to do flight testing at the\u00a0U.S. Navy’s test facilities at\u00a0Point Mugu, California<\/a>. AVE stated that\u00a0FAA\u00a0certification flights were underway in mid-1973.<\/sup>The Mizar was intended to use both the\u00a0aircraft engine\u00a0and the car\u00a0engine\u00a0for takeoff. This would considerably shorten the takeoff roll. Once in the air, the car engine would be turned off. Upon landing, the four-wheel braking would stop the craft in 525 feet (160\u00a0m) or less. On the ground, telescoping\u00a0wing supports\u00a0would be extended and the airframe would be tied down like any other aircraft. The Pinto could be quickly unbolted from the airframe and driven away.Production was scheduled to begin in 1974. AVE had stated that prices would range from\u00a0US$18,300 to US$29,000.
\n<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is a short video about it:<\/p>\n