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This is a progress report for the concept design for a roadable helicopter; i. e., a helicopter that can fold up its blades and drive off like a car. The study is funded by NASA's Langley Research Center, and is the result of a survey of the American helicopter industry two years ago to determine if there was any interest by those companies to study this concept which has the added features of a fully automatic stability / control / navigation system for complete hands-off flight, could be built at a rate of at least 500,000 units per year, and would sell for a price equivalent to a then-year luxury automobile. The unanimous response was that this would be a fantastically attractive engineering project, could undoubtedly be made to work, but reaching the suggested production rate and cost would be a substantial challenge. McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS) agreed to look into the matter, and this paper describes where we were about three months into the study.

The Boeing Company in Mesa, Arizona, has been conducting a concept design study of a roadable helicopter called the “Converticar” to assess its feasibility. This is a twin-engine vehicle with twin retractable coaxial counter-rotating rotors. The purpose of the study is to describe a vehicle that carries four passengers in the equivalent of a luxury car that also can fly like a helicopter, and can be priced like a luxury car. To come near this cost goal, the production rate must be on the order of 500,000 units a year. At that rate there is no chance of training a comparable number of pilots each year. So the machine must fly and navigate autonomously, with the pilot just dialing in where he/she wants to go. Technologically, the concept appears to be feasible. Modern design processes, new materials, and improved manufacturing process should allow the Converticar to be built at the prescribed rate when the proper infrastructure for manufacturing it is made available.