The Wright Brothers flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility. –Charles Kettering
November is National Aviation Month, and boy has transportation come a long way since 1900 when the Wrights successfully tested their piloted glider. No doubt well before airplanes there were trains and automobiles, but the idea that something once impossible had then been made possible opened up the idea that other forms of transportation was still achievable. That was so long as innovative individuals kept forging forward, and fortunately for us, they did exactly that.
As you can imagine, over the course of more than a century many ideas concerning transportation have come to fruition while others simply flopped. But are you aware of the various stepping stones that were in place which allowed us to achieve what we have today? In commemoration of the Wright Brothers imagination, and for all those souls that risked life, limb, and fortune to make their ideas come to life, let’s discuss some of the most impressive and off the wall transportive creations that have come, gone, and one day hope to be.
Commercial Space Crafts
If anything would make the Wright Brother proud, it would certainly be the fact that we can now fly through the cosmos. They of course could never fathom this themselves, and for a long time most people could never assume that the average individual would ever receive the chance to visit space either. That is of course until a few years ago when Virgin Galactic was announced. The world’s first commercial space line. If you have the spare cash, about $250,000 worth, you can reserve your seat and be one of the first civilian astronauts. It may cost an arm and a leg, but for many, it would be a life changing experience and more than worth it.
Motorized Beasts Of Burden
Mechanical Mules, Cheetahs, and Atlas’s oh my! A leader in the field of making Terminator like robots is Boston Dynamics, and they have been putting together these little inventions for some time. There are many ideas to use them for emergency rescue, carrying wounded soldiers, shuttling equipment, and really anything else you could imagine. The Mule can carry a ridiculous amount of weight; the Cheetah can reach speeds of 30 mph (another video showing its maneuverability), while the Atlas is well… just plain awesome! The future is nigh my friends, very nigh. We just have to vigilantly listen for the words Skynet.
Hovercrafts
Though we may not have reached the level of Hovercraft technology that the Jetsons had, what we do have is still pretty impressive. The U.S military has a hovercraft they use primarily for transportation and is pretty cool, but for civilians the options are a bit more limited though still interesting nonetheless. When I was in the 8th grade, I made this exact same style of hovercraft for a science project. Then of course, for those willing to spend a little coin, there is the Cadillac of Hovercrafts, the DONAR. You would certainly feel like James Bond or GI Joe hovering around in this slick looking thing.
Jetpacks
Jetpacks for the most part are not a reliable form of transportation, however when considering how far they’ve come in recent years, you never know what the future holds. One of the newest craves has been Water Jet Packs, and one of the coolest ones around is the Flyboard. I would imagine there is quite a bit of training that has to go down before you hop on one of these as often times they are cruising under water and you would hate to turn the wrong way. But then again, there is still the good old fashioned Airborn Jetpacks which has advanced in leaps and bounds from their predecessors. And to ride one of these, you probably need to be a full blown pilot, but commercial use is certainly, and always has been on the horizon. Finally, if what you really want to do is simply fly like a bird, well there are those daring enough to try that. Wingsuits are absolutely amazing and always leave me stunned when I watch videos of them. It is truly remarkable, amazing, and downright impressive for someone to be that brave.
Motorized Unicycle
Motorcycles are of course classically cool, but if want to be more of the trendy cool, than you would be sure to go and get yourself a Ryno Cycle, the motorized unicycle. You may think it would be difficult to ride, and perhaps at first. But just as Segway’s have auto balance functionality, so to do the Ryno Cycle. You would be sure to turn some heads riding into work on this thing.
Flying Cars
Sadly, flying cars exist but not in the way we would like to see them. What we have, and what developers continually strive toward is making airplanes that can be driven like a car, not cars that can fly. One of the best on the market around today is the Terrafugia, and in the end it does the trick and is a flying car. But I think what people would rather see are the types of flying cars in the Fifth Element. But those of course, are years away.
Hyperloop
Finally, we’ve spoken of planes and automobiles, but what about trains? Tesla founder and owner Elon Musk has an idea that if applicable and functional will without doubt change how humans transport themselves. It will be far superior to every other form as far as efficiency and speed, and is aptly dubbed the Hyperloop. This idea has garnered a lot of traction and has truly made people excited. Imagine traveling from Los Angela’s to San Francisco in 35 minutes, or better yet from coast to coast in the U.S in a matter of hours. If this works, it will truly be revolutionary.
Featured images:
The author of this piece is Damien S. Wilhelmi. If you enjoyed this article you can follow me on Twitter @CustParadigm. When I’m not writing about planes, trains, and automobiles, I can generally be found explaining how to fix these machines, or working for one of the better transmission repair shops in Colorado.
