Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle-named the Transition – has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of gas and bums 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Terrafugia公司星期一说，它的新飞车已经完成了首次飞行，公司明年销售飞车的目标更近了。这款名为Transition的汽车有两个座位、四个车轮和可折叠的翼子板，这样它就可以像汽车一样驾驶了。上个月在1400英尺的高空飞行了8分钟，在公路上的时速可达70英里，在空中的时速可达115英里。它使用23加仑的油箱飞行，每小时在空中燃烧5加仑。在地面上，每加仑汽油可以行驶35英里。
Around 100 people have already put down a 279,000.And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
大约有100人已经存了1万美元的定金，以便在上市时获得过渡，而在本周晚些时候的纽约车展上Terrafugia向公众介绍Transition后，这一数字可能会上升。但别指望它会出现在太多车道上。预计花费27.9万美元，如果堵车也没用。这辆车需要一条跑道。
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The govemment has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
航空业专家罗伯特•曼恩表示，发明家们从上世纪30年代就开始尝试制造飞行汽车。但是曼恩认为Terrafugia比任何都更接近于让飞行汽车成为现实。政府已经允许该公司使用特殊材料，以使车辆更容易飞行。目前，Transition正在进行碰撞测试，以确保符合联邦安全标准。
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find redatively easy to meet.
曼恩说，五年前联邦航空管理局决定为轻型运动飞机制定一套单独的标准，这一标准比大型飞机的飞行员要低，这对Terrafugia来说是一个帮助。Terrafugia说，飞机员需要通过测试，完成20小时的飞行时间，才能驾驶Transition，飞行员会发现这一要求很容易满足。
