Smithsonian Magazine highlights Central Oregon’s
Samson Motors & Flying Car
Samson Motors, Inc. of Prineville is featured in the May Issue of Smithsonian in the article, The Future of Cars is Already Here. Smithsonian, with over seven million readers worldwide and five million unique visitors to their digital magazine, is well known for its in-depth coverage of innovations and those who create them. The article explores some of the most cutting-edge vehicles —
including drones, autonomous cars and flying cars.
Journalist Jack Hitt argues that we are on the verge of a transportation revolution. Science fiction is becoming reality. Hitt writes, “It is safe to say that we are living through the most intense frenzy of transportation creativity since the 1890s when brothers Charles and Frank Duryea’s gas-powered buggy and Thomas Jeffrey’s Rambler began spooking horses in Manhattan.”
When it comes to flying cars, Hitt hits the nail on the head when he explains that the fantasy of the Jetsons (and flying cars in general) has been hampered by various problems. Hitt quotes Bob Lutz, former vice chair of GM, who told him, ”It’s the eternal dream and nobody has ever been able to make it work. You end up with the combination of a lousy car when it’s on the road and a lousier plane when it flies.”
According to Sam Bousfield, designer of the Switchblade Flying Sports Car and CEO of Samson Motors, this view of flying cars has actually been the biggest barrier he and his team have had to face. “So many people have the pre-conceived idea that by definition, a flying car will be a mediocre car or a mediocre plane — or both.”
Bousfield has responded to this skepticism by citing actual test results with the Switchblade. As the Smithsonian article mentions, the Switchblade Ground Test Vehicle has outperformed a Jaguar XK-8 in acceleration tests. And in the Road & Track slalom testing, it was faster than every other vehicle in its wheel base. This would be a sizable accomplishment in and of itself, but when you consider that the competitors have four wheels, racing tires and professional drivers, it becomes even more impressive.
Samson Motors anticipates that their flying car should get about 35+ mpg in driving mode. Sort of like a Prius, only this car flies. Hitt concludes that Samson’s prototype “…looks like a super cool race car, with wings that spring outward from beneath the body at the press of a button, hence the name: the Switchblade.”
Bousfield adds, with a smile, “We’ve been nicknamed the Flying Ferrari, which we think is cool.”
In flight mode, Samson engineering data and wind tunnel results show a high performing aircraft, with a range of 350 miles and a top speed of 175 mph. Would Mr. Lutz consider that to be lousy?
The Switchblade Flying Sports Car is in very good company in the article, which highlights several press-grabbing vehicles, including Google’s autonomous cars (with no steering wheels), the Chinese Ehang 184 unpiloted flying vehicle and Stanford University’s Dynamic Design Lab, where they are programming autonomous vehicles to maneuver like professional race car drivers.
In The Future of Cars is Already Here, Hitt makes a compelling case for the fact that our transportation revolution will not happen overnight but that it may still take us by surprise. He concludes, “It’s natural to think of innovation as happening in some instantaneous transformative way, but the transition to our own future will likelier involve a great mix of evolving technologies…”
(Photos | by John Lee)
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