Dreams of New Ways To Fly From a news story by September 25, 1999
Michael Moshier steps up and straps himself in and hopes to realize a dream. Michael Moshier is the inventor of the Solo Trek, " So, to take off, the pilot would increase the throttle, machine would lift off." Someday soon, Moshier or a test pilot will fire up the 120 horsepower engine of the twin fan Solo Trek, and if things go as planned, fly above the rooftops like an action hero. Michael Moshier says of his invention, "You have unrestricted visibility and actually, when it flies fast, it will lean forward slightly so you're out there, in the air, flying, much like Superman, might fly, as an analogy, and I dream of this every night." It may seem odd that a former navy jet fighter pilot could be inspired by the fantasy of simple, one-person flight, a la the Jetsons on t-v. Or the actual but never quite practical rocket belt. Michael Moshier, "I look at the jet belt and the rocket belt that was developed 20, 30 years ago, and I say, where's the follow up product? Where is something that works that I can have?" Not that inventors haven't tried to make it easy for ordinary folks to fly. Paul Moller's [has] been working on his flying car for 30 years, and now says it's ready for tests. It would take off and land vertically, go 600 miles an hour, and deliver 20 miles to the gallon. A computer would do the actual flying. He says it could be on the market next year with a sticker price of about a million dollars. NASA just signed on with Moshier to help develop his flying machine. The first uses are likely to be military. It's been 50-years since Robert Fulton invented his airphibian, a flying car. It flew, and ultimately landed in the Smithsonian Museum. But never found its way into any family garage. Getting dreams to fly is never easy.
Additional notes: For a newspaper article with additional information:
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Here are two articles about Paul Moller's invention. More information about Robert Fulton's airphibian go to:
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