Moller M400 Skycar

[ShadowMystDK]

I don't know about y'all but I have wanted a realistic and decently detailed version of the Moller Skycar for FS9 for quite some time now, and up till now, none had met those wants. Now along comes Rob Barendregt's Moller release, and it is a very nice to fly, even if it does take a bit to learn to work it as it's controls and flight mode transitions take some getting used to.

I used it to take a quick hop around Auckland, starting out at Auckland Intl, a quick stop at Mechanic's Bay before heading out to Christchurch (with a quick stop in Wellington along the way).

The craft comes with 4 flight modes:

1. Test Mode - This allows you to open doors, ect on the ground without moving.
2. VTOL Mode - Self explanatory
3. Car mode - The M400 can be driven around on the ground much like a normal car except for control layout - to go forward you push the yoke forward,
to stop you pull back on the yoke, and steering is controlled via the rudder pedals.
4. Forward Flight Mode - This is the mode that the M400 transitions into automatically from VTOL Mode once airspeed and altitude are within parameters.

To switch modes from Test to VTOL or Car, or VTOL to Car, ect you must first engage the parking brake, then push the appropriate switch on the control panel. This was perhaps what took me the longest to figure out......once the vehicle is in VTOL mode and climbing/accellerating, she will automatically transistion to Forward Flight mode, and upon slowing down sufficiently will transition back to VTOL mode for landing. Lowering landing gear at approximately 160kts aids this process somewhat.

Now, on to the screenies

[Daniel]

Nice shots mate I wonder how many years it will be until we actually see something link this
Looks like I might have to get that sometime and have a whizz around in it.

[ShadowMystDK]

QUOTE (Daniel @ Aug 27 2008, 06:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice shots mate I wonder how many years it will be until we actually see something link this
Looks like I might have to get that sometime and have a whizz around in it.

Moller has a prototype doing limited trials as we speak, mainly constrained by finances. If Moller International can survive the fraud lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and raise additional capital, perhaps we could see mass production before many more years.

The aircraft can be downloaded here:

http://www.simviation.com/simviation/index...1&page=1000

[Peppermint]

Can't remember where I read it, but someone brought up a good point about flying cars. They said something along the lines of 'Many people can't even drive the cars we have now, or are too idiotic to do it properly. Imagine what it will be like once flying cars are available to the general public'

[Timmo]

They are powered by Mazda-derived Rotary engines too.....

Im sure all the boy racers would love to get hold of one of these: Bridge port it and then 'barp barp barp' all over the sky

[KiwiElf]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but am delighted there are other Moller fans here. I too had a lot of trouble working out how to make the various modes work - the instructions are a little confusing. The little box (the one that becomes "D" or "R" in car mode, is how you lock it into VTOL or Flight mode. Using this, you can slow the Skycar right down to around 100 kias in flight mode, then uncheck the lock and it automatically lowers the gear and converts to VTOL mode. Important to keep the pitch as neutral as possible.

So, soon after a VTOL take off, I accelerate to Flight mode and lock it. You can do a conventional takeoff landing at around 75 kts.

In reality, Urmmm no - (sorry Timmo), the engines are based on an aircooled rotary snowmobile engine, and are tiny - not a MAZDA rotary.

Moller has been called a scam artist and fraud - not true. The lawsuit was a trumped-up charge not unlike what happened to Preston Tucker many decades ago. The US government (and others) see's the Moller as a real threat to their helicopter sales. Considering the claimed $100 million spent (or wasted depending on your point of view) getting the existing Skycar to where it's at now is peanuts. That includes doubling the power and capacity of the engines which Moller builds, markets and sells as a side-product within that $100 million. Ford spent several times that on just one engine for an older Falcon a few years ago. The BA-609 tiltrotor and Osprey development runs into the billions as a comparison. (The basic concept has been flying in various forms since the late 1940's).

More recent videos show the current Skycar prototype (not the FS2004/FSX version) hovering dead still and perfectly stable. The fly-by-wire stability software alone has taken years of development (as they found out with the Osprey). Even earlier test flights of the Harrier were tethered with quite a few wee crashes. With 130+ horsepower per engine x 8, the Skycar has more than enough power to achieve what Moller claims it will do. Torque (or lack thereof) has been a weakness of the rotary engine tho.

Moller is still waiting for the "highway in the sky" technology promised by NASA over a decade ago: the whole idea of the Moller is it's intended to be essentially an automated robot. At a projected cost equivalent to well over $2 million at todays costs, I don't think we're ever going to see the sky full of them, even if he does get it to commercial production.

If anyone's interested in building the model for FSX or FS2004, I'm working on a 5-view schematic/plan of the earlier designs (ie the current one on the YouTube videos being hover tested, and the racy Luke Skywalker mockup seen on display at shows). - Altho I'm having a devil of a job trying to upload the pics/plans to here!

[Splitpin]

This i must try ...... great shots .

[dbcunnz]

QUOTE (Splitpin @ Jul 9 2013,6:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This i must try ...... great shots .

I'm sure it will fit in well with your Airtruk

[Ian Warren]

I keep thinking Moller .. XFiles .. course that was Molder but like the Airtruk both should be kept under wraps !

[KiwiElf]

Seriously, if anyone is interested in helping me to build the other two Moller Skycar models for FS9 & FSX, I contacted Rob Barendregt directly the other day, and he's very keen to assist, ie he will provide the modified flight dynamics (similar to this model) if "we" can come up with a great visual model - at least on par with this one. Unfortunately his modeller is no longer available. Any takers please contact me!

Cheers

PS - help - I'm following the instructions to upload pics but I keep getting an error "failed to upload" message!" Gaghhhhh - what am I doing wrong?