Terrafugia's Street Legal Airplane debuts at 2012 NYIAS

Rewind to the late 1970’s and a mischievously white Lotus Espirit from a very famous James Bond movie titled ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ comes to mind. It wasn’t your conventional armoured and militarized sports car, but something more of an amphibian nature, a Lotus that turned itself into a working submarine once it got off the road and into the sea.

While such split personality automobiles still linger in our thoughts thanks to impressionable Hollywood movies over half a century, an aerospace company based out of Woburn, MA has now come close to turning film fiction into a tried and tested reality.

At the 2012 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), Terrafugia (terra-FOO-gee-ah), a company founded by pilots and engineers from MIT and supported by benevolent private investors presented to the world their fully functional Transition Roadable Aircraft, which after years of testing and engineering breakthroughs is now ready to take the road, and even take off when required.

Terrafugia presented the latest generation Transition production prototype as well as details of the company’s future plans amidst a sizeable audience gathered at the 2012 NYIAS. Public attendees at the show got up-close and personal with the street-legal vehicle, witnessing its unique wing-folding capabilities, and even had a chance to interact with the staff behind this futuristic design.  A separate video of the Transition in flight and on the road was also shown, allowing convention-goers to see the future of personal transportation in action.

Commenting on the versatile vehicle’s grand debut at the NYIAS, Anna Mracek Dietrich, COO of Terrafugia, said, “We selected the New York International Auto Show to continue the roll-out of the Transition because of the value this show brings in terms of exposure to future owners, investors, and partners.  The NYIAS is a venue from which we can show the first practical street-legal airplane to the world while meeting the people who will be part of its commercial success in the years to come.  New York is the perfect place to accomplish all of this.”

Show Director Alan Liebensohn, who was thrilled to have Terrafugia at the Show this year said, “The Transition is a truly unique vehicle that represents an enormous step forward in how we view personal transportation and individual freedom.  We know it will be a huge crowd pleaser.”

With the creation of the Transition Roadable Aircraft, Terrafugia, a company name that literally translates to “escape the earth,” has managed to achieve a major landmark in its mission to design and deliver revolutionary, practical air and land vehicles to the world.