Tesla's Flying Car - More Rocket Science Than Common Sense

3 hours ago

4 min read

By Garth Calitz

Elon Musk has apparently decided that four wheels and a road are no longer sufficient. But while Tesla's rocket-assisted Roadster promises to defy gravity, the aviation industry might want to hold off on cancelling its runway bookings.

The flying car has been promising to revolutionise personal transport for decades. From science-fiction fantasies to ambitious engineering projects, we have repeatedly been assured that the days of sitting in traffic are numbered. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have told the traffic on the N1.

Now Elon Musk has entered the conversation with Tesla's rocket-assisted Roadster, a sports car designed to use compressed-gas thrusters to perform brief airborne manoeuvres. It is an extraordinary concept, although calling it a flying car might be slightly generous. By that definition, a Toyota Hilux hitting a particularly ambitious South African pothole could also qualify.

Nevertheless, behind the spectacular demonstrations and inevitable marketing enthusiasm lies an interesting question: What does this technology actually mean for personal aviation?

Tesla's concept uses high-pressure gas thrusters to generate short bursts of force, potentially allowing the vehicle to lift off the ground or perform unusual manoeuvres. It sounds impressive, and from an engineering perspective, it certainly is. Unfortunately, aviation requires a little more than briefly escaping gravity. An aircraft must remain airborne, travel somewhere useful, cope with weather, carry passengers safely and preferably land without requiring an insurance assessor and three recovery vehicles.

Cold-gas thrusters are excellent for producing short impulses, but they are hardly an efficient substitute for wings, rotors or conventional propulsion during sustained flight. Tesla may have developed a very sophisticated way of jumping. The Wright brothers would probably have been impressed, although they might have suggested fitting wings before declaring victory.

While Tesla grabs headlines, manufacturers developing electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft are quietly tackling the considerably more difficult challenge of making personal flight practical. These aircraft, commonly known as eVTOLs, are designed to take off vertically, transition into forward flight and transport passengers over useful distances.

Unlike a rocket-assisted sports car, they are being developed as actual aircraft, complete with flight-control systems, safety requirements and the deeply unglamorous business of certification. The potential is significant. Imagine travelling from Pretoria to a bushveld lodge without negotiating the N1, or flying between suitable landing sites without needing a conventional runway.

Of course, there are complications. Batteries remain heavy, range is limited, and charging infrastructure does not magically appear because someone in California produces an impressive promotional video.

Then there is the question of cost. If personal aviation is going to become genuinely accessible, manufacturers must deliver aircraft that ordinary enthusiasts can afford, rather than another airborne status symbol for billionaires who have grown bored with their helicopters.

For South African pilots, the prospect of affordable vertical-flight aircraft is particularly appealing. Our country has vast distances, countless rural properties and a well-established general aviation community. Unfortunately, we also have regulations. Any genuinely flyable version of Tesla's Roadster would face substantial certification and operational questions before being allowed to operate as an aircraft.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority would need to determine how such a machine should be classified, certified and operated. Pilot licensing, maintenance requirements, landing-site approval and airspace integration would all require attention. Given the existing challenges facing local general aviation, one can only imagine the administrative excitement generated by a vehicle that is simultaneously a sports car, a rocket-powered machine and potentially an aircraft. Somewhere in that grand new building in Centurion, a filing cabinet may already be trembling.

There is also the small matter of where these machines would operate. Suburban driveways make wonderful promotional backdrops, but real aviation requires safe landing areas, emergency procedures and consideration for the neighbours. Explaining to the body corporate that your Tesla needs vertical departure clearance every morning could prove more challenging than the engineering itself.

For the average private pilot, a conventional light aircraft still offers something the Roadster has yet to demonstrate: the ability to take off, travel a meaningful distance and land safely at another airfield. Aircraft such as the Cessna 172, Sling and numerous other light aircraft may lack rocket thrusters and billionaire-level publicity, but they perform their intended function remarkably well.

The technologies emerging from the electric vehicle and aerospace industries could eventually improve personal aviation through better propulsion, advanced flight controls, improved batteries and reduced operating costs. Those developments deserve serious attention. A rocket-assisted sports car that briefly leaves the ground? Entertaining, certainly. A replacement for your weekend aircraft? Not quite.

Elon Musk deserves credit for challenging conventional engineering thinking. The automotive and aerospace industries have much to learn from one another, and some of today's seemingly ridiculous concepts may eventually produce genuinely useful technologies. But personal aviation will not be revolutionised by how spectacularly a vehicle can jump. It will be revolutionised when manufacturers deliver aircraft that are safe, practical, affordable and capable of travelling useful distances.

Until then, Tesla's flying Roadster remains a fascinating engineering experiment with considerably more publicity than demonstrated aviation capability. And while Musk works on teaching cars to fly, perhaps someone could convince South Africa's road authorities to make driving possible first.