March 18, 2009 1:27 PM PDT

Terrafugia's flying car makes maiden voyage

by Jonathan Skillings

It may look like a Volkswagen Beetle in the belly of a carp, but the Terrafugia Transition (at right) is a bona fide flying car.

(Credit: Terrafugia)

The start-up Terrafugia first popped up on our radar screens in early 2006 with a one-fifth scale model, $30,000 in prize money, and an urge to build a car that could fly. Or is that an airplane you can take on the highway?

Some signs point strongly to the latter. Terrafugia describes its Transition vehicle as a "roadable aircraft" and is pitching it in part as giving private pilots an easy travel alternative when bad weather makes flying a bad idea, or simply to avoid having to take a separate car to the airport. Also, in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Administration, the vehicle falls into the light sport aircraft category.

On March 5, Terrafugia got to show that--whatever the eventual business prospects--the Transition can indeed fly. The maiden voyage (the duration wasn't specified) took place at the Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, with a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel in the pilot's seat. The flight followed six months of static, road, and taxi testing.

As a car, the two-seat Transition is designed to be easy on garages and oncoming traffic--its wings fold up quite snugly. In folded mode, the approximately 19-foot-long vehicle is 80 inches wide, and 6 feet, 9 inches high. As an airplane, it stands a few inches shorter and has a wingspan of 27 feet, 6 inches.

The vehicle runs off unleaded fuel from your run-of-the-mill gas station for both terrestrial and aerial travel, cruising at highway speeds on land and better than 115 miles per hour in the air.

But Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia (Latin for "escape from land") still has a long road ahead of it. The vehicle that flew earlier this month is still just a proof of concept, and a production prototype has yet to be built, tested, and certified. The company says it expects to make the first customer delivery of a Transition in 2011.

Photos: Terrafugia's flying car flies

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natasha richardson death

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BREAKING NEWS: Natasha Richardson Dies at 45
Wednesday March 18, 2009

Natasha Richardson at the 3rd Annual Chanel Dinner Party Honoring the Tribeca Film Festival Artist Program on April 28, 2008.
Brian Zak/Sipa Press

Natasha Richardson, a revered theater actress and member of the famed Redgrave family, has died after suffering a head injury from a skiing accident. She was 45.

She passed away Wednesday at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital.

"Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha," Neeson's rep tells Usmagazine.com in a statement. "They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

Richardson fell during a private lesson on a beginners trail Monday at the Mont Tremblant ski resort near Montreal.

See touching photos of Natasha through the years.

The British-born actress, who was not wearing a helmet, seemed fine at first: She had no visible injuries and was even laughing and joking after the accident, a resort rep told Usmagazine.com.

About an hour later, she complained of a headache and was taken to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe. She was later transferred to Hopital du Sacre-Coeur in Montreal. Neeson, who was in Toronto shooting a movie, rushed to her side.

Richardson was held overnight and released Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. Along with Neeson, she flew, via private jet, to New York City, where she was hospitalized at Lenox Hill Hospital.

See photos of stars gone too soon.

On Tuesday evening, her family gathered at her bedside to bid their farewells.

Her mother, actress Vanessa Redgrave, was seen with her head wrapped in a scarf, along with Natasha's sister, Nip/Tuck star Joely Richardson, and grandmother Daisy followed. Her aunt, actress Lynn Redgrave, also was spotted entering the hospital.

Natasha's two sons, Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12 -- who were present Tuesday -- returned Wednesday afternoon. Legendary actress Lauren Bacall was also photographed on the hospital grounds.

Check out the day's top news photos.

Despite her dire condition Wednesday (multiple news organizations had reported she was brain dead), her family members remained optimistic.

"I feel sick to the pit of my stomach. I just hope she is going to be OK," a relative, who did not wish to be identified, told Us. "We're a strong family, and Natasha is part of that family. We're good at putting up a fight."

Richardson, the elder daughter of late director Tony Richardson, was a revered theater actress, having trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama.

She appeared in a number of productions in London's West End and Broadway. In 1998, she won a Tony for her role as Sally Bowles in a revival of Cabaret. This past January, she and her mother played the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit of the Stephen Sondheim Hugh Wheeler musical A Little Night Music.

Richardson also had an extensive film career, appearing The Parent Trap, Maid in Manhattan and Nell, where she met Neeson. The two wed in 1994.

Asked for her secret to a happy marriage, Richardson told Us last March, "I wish I could tell you I have it all figured out. You've got to keep working at it. You need a sense of humor and to be able to ride the waves."

She will be remembered in her Upper West Side NYC neighborhood.

"Everybody loved her. She had an incredible sense of style and energy," a neighbor told Us Tuesday night. "She filled up the room every time she walked in."

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The First Fan’s Bracket Picks

By Jeff Zeleny:
President Barack ObamaJae C. Hong/Associated Press Barack Obama visited North Carolina Coach Roy Williams in Chapel Hill last April during the presidential campaign.

President Obama says he watches essentially only one thing on television: basketball. So his N.C.A.A. bracket is rooted in a season’s worth ofknowledge, not haphazardly picking whichever team makes political sense.
N.C.A.A. Tournament
Follow Obama’s Bracket

75 ThumbnailView President Obama’s bracket, compare his picks to your choices and see how the first fan fares throughout the N.C.A.A. tournament.

* View the President’s Bracket

College basketball offers one of the few reprieves from the vast challenges facing the president. And his advisers sought to lighten the mood, at least for a moment, and capture maximum exposure of Obama’s tournament picks by inviting ESPN to the White House Map Room to watch him fill out his bracket.

Obama selected Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and Pittsburgh to make it to the Final Four. And the winner? North Carolina, the president predicts.

With the exception of Memphis, each of the teams were the top seed in their respective regions. So is the president playing it safe or playing to win the White House pool? Aides said he believes in his selections — based on knowing the strengths and weaknesses of players after watching games in the White House or aboard Air Force One — and politics didn’t enter into his decisions.

This year, it was an easier task. In last year’s tournament, Obama still faced primary voters (and fans) in North Carolina, Indiana and Pennsylvania when he filled out his bracket. He picked North Carolina, a choice that proved wrong.

“This year don’t embarrass me in front of the nation, all right?” Obama said, addressing his words to coach Roy Williams and the Tar Heels. “I’m counting on you.”

Andy Katz, the college basketball correspondent for ESPN, asked the president whether he overlooked Arizona because of his own rivalry with Senator John McCain.

“It has nothing to do with McCain,” the president said. “I think Arizona is a great state. I love playing golf there. But they just squeaked in, based on reputation.”

source: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/the-first-fans-bracket-picks/