Monday, May 29, 2006

MIT group builds auto-plane startup

By Dyke Hendrickson

Building a vehicle that is both a plane and an automobile sounds implausible, unless you are an MIT aerogeek who gets impatient waiting for cabs.

Now a half-dozen MIT students and graduates have organized to form Terrafugia Inc., a startup with plans to develop a device that will fly as a plane, drive as a car, and sit in a suburban garage as a neighborhood curiosity.

Terrafugia was named a runner-up in last week's MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Company executives say the recognition is validation that they will use as a talking point when they seek funding this summer.

"Being recognized at the MIT $100K showed that people actually listened to our concept," said Carl Dietrich, chief executive of the nascent, Cambridge-based enterprise. "I was a little surprised, considering our idea of flying and driving can be polarizing."

The creation of Terrafugia, which is Latin for "escape from the earth," began several years ago and, strictly speaking, had no initial connection to the MIT $50K.

But it has a lot to do with flying. All principals have flying licenses. Most have concluded that many smaller airfields have no cab stands or public transportation.

So a key reason for the personal air vehicle, called the Transition, is to be able to fly into smaller airports and drive away without the need to wait or worry.

"The market would be for individuals, not commercial companies," said Alex Min, a team member. "Pilots would fly more if it were made more convenient, and this vehicle would enable you to fly to a destination and then have transportation on the ground."

The drive to develop a "roadable aircraft" began as far back as 1918, and drew significant attention in the '50s and '60s. But no model has ever caught on. Terrafugia executives say they plan to improve on past design and engineering concepts to provide a safe and efficient vehicle.

Company designers have built tabletop models and exposed them to wind-tunnel testing, but the company will have to raise funds before developing a prototype. In an effort to meet investors, they plan to host a booth at a national air transportation show in Oshkosh, Wisc., this summer, an event that draws about 17,000.

The team earned $10,000 for its runner-up finish in the MIT $100K.

Though Terrafugia has only a small model to show potential investors, founders have many numbers to discuss. The Transition would be about 18 feet long and would weigh about 1,320 pounds, or about half that of a new Honda Civic four-door sedan. Its wingspan would be 27 feet, and the wings would fold up when being deployed for the roadways (to 18.75 feet). Its engine would be 100 horsepower, and it would fly at about 120 mph.

Roadway speed would be about 50 mph, though cruising the highways would be a part-time pursuit.

"This isn't for driving around town, or going across country," said Dietrich, who will receive his Ph.D. in aeronautics from MIT later this year. "But driving 100 to 500 miles would be OK."

The vehicle would sell for $148,000.

John Pyrovolakis, a judge at the MIT $100K event, said Terrafugia has the potential to be a major success. "Their science is something that could cause a paradigm shift in transportation," said Pyrovolakis, a New York entrepreneur who himself entered the MIT $50K a decade ago. "I think that's what MIT companies should be about -- big ideas with cutting-edge technology.

"It could fail, of course. But there are good people doing the engineering, and they are looking at a big market. What they are proposing is not incremental; it could be revolutionary."

Other principals in the company include former and current students Anna Mracek, Arun Prakash, and Samuel Schweighart.