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Article for: The Davis Enterprise
Date: January 13, 2006
Author: Tom Wickersham

LOCAL INVENTOR TO SPEAK AT EXPLORIT LECTURE SERIES

Need to get to a meeting in San Francisco soon? Why not hop into your flying car?

Sounds outrageous, doesn't it? But that's not what Paul Moller thinks. His vision of the future would put a flying car in every driveway. Or on every rooftop.

The former mechanical and aeronautical engineering professor at UC Davis, Moller will talk about his flying cars, or personal volantors, as part of Explorit Science Center's Cutting Edge of Science Lecture Series Tuesday. The free talk is at the Davis Branch Library, 315 E. 14th Street at 7:30 p.m.

A volantor is the name applied to a "vertical takeoff and landing aircraft." But unlike a helicopter, Moller's vehicle, once airborne, flies like a plane.

Deciding to put his imagination to the test, Moller founded Moller International, a research and development company located here in Davis. The Moller Skycar has been built and is ready to take to the airways, once approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Moller International was founded in 1983.

In an interview with Solano Magazine, Moller proclaimed the Skycar's ride a smooth one. "You really have this sensation that a magic carpet is lifting you up from below," he said.

Moller and his staff have created the Skycar with some ingenious engineering. At the heart of this design is the development of a unique engine, the Rotapower engine.

Very powerful for its weight and size, the Rotapower engine is now being produced by Freedom Motors, which is based in Michigan.

In addition to the powerful engine, a computer system needed to be developed to handle all the power, keep the vehicle stable and even help the pilot reach his or her destination.
Moller's presentation will focus on the reasons for developing the Skycar, the technologies created to make the Skycar a reality and the potential impact these volantors will have on the future of the world's transportation landscape.

His talk, "Skycar Volantor: Personal Airborne Transportation in the 21st Century and Beyond," is free to the general public.

Over the years, Moller has received 43 patents, including the first U.S. patent on a fundamentally new form of powered lift aircraft. He holds a masters in engineering and a Ph.D. from McGill University.

The event is part of Explorit's Cutting Edge of Science Lecture Series, which is hosted by the Davis Branch Library and sponsored by Novozymes.

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Explorit Science Center is at 3141 Fifth St. in East Davis. The current exhibition "Catch a Wave: The Science of Light and Sound" runs through Mar. 12. Public hours are Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.explorit.org or call Explorit at (530) 756-0191.