Flying tractors next?

[Mike(NEOhio)]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/take-a-look-at-the-sports-car-that-transforms-to-a-plane-in-under-3-minutes-and-flies-at-140-miles-per-hour/ss-AATLjcE?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

 

[JF in MI]

I don't have a lot of faith that these will catch on or sell enough to sustain a business. You still need a full pilot license to fly it. Like the anfibi car of the late 60s; it may have been able to go on land or water but it wasn't very good as a car and wasn't very good as a boat.

 

[tomtinker]

I am still waiting for the greeny weeny electric airplanes to come out.

 

[OregonAaron]

Geezzz.... There are crazy enough drivers on the ground, can you imagine these same folks in flying cars? Population control I suppose, however the crazy drivers seem to always injure or kill law abiding folks as well.

 

[rustyfarmall]

Flying cars were a concept as far back as I can remember. I remember reading and hearing of them way back in the '50s. Seems like one or two were even built and experimented with, but the idea was dropped when folks realized just how congested the airways would become.

 

[fastfarmall]

There was one on I've Got A Secret, when i was a kid, that was in the late 50's, that never caught on!

 

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good morning, all: Dad always subscribed to Mechanix Illustrated, I believe it was in that magazine that I read about a car/plane that would soon be available. Quite a few "inventors" had similar ideas, but none of them looked substantial in the articles I saw. (1950s).

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.

 

[DR. EVIL]

I don't know anything about flying tractors but BOB CUMMINGS SHOW back in 1961 & 1962 had him flying and driving an AEROCAR, a small car that converted into a small airplane with the tail & wings it towed behind it on the road. Show ran for 22 episodes.
Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and Mechanics Illustrated all ran articles on cars that converted into airplanes. But I've NEVER seen a tractor that converted into an airplane ANYWHERE.

 

[JF in MI]

Those have a better chance at commercial success. #1 they are light enough to not require any kind of pilot's license. #2 they run off software in that they fly themselves.

 

[Fawteen]

Flying tractors? You've never heard of the Essex TriDirectional?

 

[Bob N.Y.]

I remember that!

 

[HenryO]

I seem to remember seeing an ad for a flying tractor for aerial application of insecticides and also does seeding. Actually I saw one at an airshow. They are common in the midwest.

 

[ss55]

Air Tractor builds crop dusters and other agricultural planes.

https://airtractor.com/aircraft/

In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is pulled through the air. Oppositely, the pusher configuration places the airscrew behind and propels the aircraft forward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractor_configuration

 

[Stephen Newell]

Problem is you wouldn't want to use them. They wouldn't plow much until they augered in.

 

[Crazy Horse]

Doc .... Googling the topic will keep you reading till the end of February, the link below is a great article and has lots on the Aerocar you mention (still around apparently) and others too. Bob Cummings, I loved that show, him and his secretary Schultzie I remember, hilarious stuff. And he shows up in the article below too. Somebody made scale hobby models of them and sold them as kits, some of the kits for sale on eBay etc. The Aerocar you mention was one of the more successful ones that were produced.
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