Flying Cars and Mass Transit

A post about technology by Velvet Girl reminded me that flying cars are something that Boomers and others have dreamed about for many years.

I remember this idea being talked about during the 60s. I was surprised to learn that Glenn Curtiss of airplane fame tried the idea in 1917. His flying car actually took off … for a few seconds …but development of a practical flying car never took off. Reasons range from lack of funding to lack of realistic control of air space.


The allure of flying cars comes as a result of the increasingly insane traffic congestion we face. Only the oldest Boomers will remember that at one time public transportation was a practical way to get around in urban areas. As late as the 1960s many families, mine included, had only one car, referred to as the “family car.”

I grew up riding busses and trolleys and during my very youngest days, we could get anywhere in New Orleans using public transportation options like this “streetcar.”


My Mother didn’t drive, so this was partly out of necessity, but I developed a fascination with mass transit, especially rail.

Busses, trolleys and trains were ubiquitous in pre-Boomer days but auto-maker lobbying successfully deferred funding to road building projects and away from public transportation. As the Boomer era suburbs expanded out from city centers, roads and cars followed but trains and busses didn’t. It became both cool and necessary to have your own car. It became impractical and unpopular to consider riding to work with the masses.

I love cars and I love driving, but I HATE traffic. Weather-related traffic issues led to much cursing on my part this week: cursing idiot drivers, cursing my wife for convincing me to live 42 miles from work, cursing myself for going along with that. A flying car would have helped me a lot this week.

A Google search turns up 557,000 articles about “flying cars,” which tells me it’s still a hot topic. Reading some of those web sites tells me Personal Air Vehicles (as they would likely be called using today’s vernacular) aren’t that much closer to reality than they were when I was a kid.