Developed by Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia Inc., the Transition® Street-Legal Airplane is a two seat personal aircraft capable of driving on roads and highways at up to 100 mph, parking in a single car garage, and flying with unleaded automotive fuel.
The Terrafugia Transition seats two and can take off and land from more than 5000 public US airfields. It can be driven on any road and runs on the same gasoline as high- performance cars.
Development of the Transition is progressing and last month Terrafugia completed the first flight of the production prototype.
The Transition can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 mph in the air, spokesman Steven Moscaritolo said. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Terrafugia co-founder and CEO Carl Dietrich expects flight testing to continue through 2012 and deliveries to begin next year.
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 relatively low hurdle for pilots.
Around 100 people have already put down a 10,000 US dollar (£6,240) deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public at the New York Auto Show.
The Transition® Production Prototype is on display at the New York International Auto Show April 6-15th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.
It is expected to cost 279,000 US dollars (£174,000).
The US government has already granted the company's request to use special tires and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the vehicle to fly.
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