Tuesday, November 12, 2013

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute

First, the Moeller Skycar is back, a zombie project that has never been in free flight with a live pilot in fifty years of development.

It would seem that Paul Moeller and Jim Bede both share a talent for separating investors from their money. Like Moeller, Jim Bede also attracted the attention of the Federal regulators (in his case, the FTC). Unlike Moeller, Bede has designed at least two airplanes that were produced in numbers (BD-1* and BD-4) and a few that were less than successful (BD-5, BD-10).

Second, the Terrafugia TF-X. They claim that "a megawatt of power lifts you". According to Wolfram Alpha, that is 1,341 horsepower. Which is ten times the horsepower of a Robinson R22. And since it will have over 800 HP, you'll most likely need to get a type rating to fly it.

I'm not giving investment advice. But if you were seriously thinking about investing in either Moeller's company, or the TF-X you might get a better return on your investment by spending it on hookers and booze. At least, you'll have some fun.
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* After they kicked him off the project.
on or about

3 comments:

  1. BadTux11/12/2013 6:59 PM

    Or crack. Which you'd have to be on, to think either of these are a good idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Old NFO11/12/2013 7:18 PM

    Yep, good money after bad (again and again)...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nangleator11/13/2013 9:01 AM

    Ah, well, the opening of a Bond movie and the Grumman Yankee are achievements that render Bede's life as worthwhile, in my book.

    ReplyDelete

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