Well, like the Tucker, that may put an end to the SkyCar effort. Although, the company traded up a little today on minimal volume.
I remember reading about the first Moller efforts in Popular Mechanics eons ago. And, there was a real neat program on Discovery Wings recently showing some tethered flight tests where the machine actually flew. moller.com
"...C'est la guere............. General Aviation has just about been wrecked by the lawyers and the insurance industry, which kill companies by holding them liable for 20+ year old aircraft - well maintained or not. Even Rutan quit selling kits & plans for their homrbuilder's LongEze becuase of liability and Burt's association with Beechcraft (which I believe is a Raytheon company now).
Light (non-airline) aircraft now cost 5x the price of the engine(s), hence a new Mooney or Cessna single averages round $200K+ these days. And, a factory-refrubished, 0-time Beech Baron twin will run you about $1MM.
Unfortunately, if you try to do anything much different (..i,e,: the Beech (Rutan) Starship wingsoverkansas.com from the norm, the general aviation industry, or the public, will eventually dump on it. Or, a bigger competitor can wipe you out by ordering a truckload of engines they know you'll need thereby wrecking your production schedule.
Certainly doesn't help when management screws up their fund raising efforts either, obviously.
John :-)
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