Tag Archives: transition

Flying Car? Now We’re Talking

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Well, it’s about time. Ladies & gentlemen, I give you… the flying car. ("It’s your kids, Marty! Something has got to be done about your kids!"; that’s the second "Back to the Future" reference and counting on the blog this week, btw. Didn’t plan it that way, these things just happen, like density … I mean, destiny.) (Third reference!)

The Transition was designed as a "light sport" aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane under FAA classification, with a maximum weight of 1,320lb. But the manufacturers found it impossible to fit the safety features – airbags, crumple zones and roll cage, for instance – that are required for road vehicles into that weight.

Uniquely, however, the FAA has granted the Transition an exemption – allowing it to be classified as a light sport aircraft despite being 120lb over the limit.

Light sport aircraft licences require just 20 hours’ flying time, making them much easier to obtain than full private licences.

The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot – an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land – it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.

Its cruising speed in the air is 115mph, it has a range of 460 miles, and it can carry 450lb. It requires a 1,700-foot (one-third of a mile) runway to take off and can fit in a standard garage.

Terrafugia says that one of the major advantages of the Transition over ordinary light aircraft is safety – in the event of inclement weather, it can simply drive home instead of either being grounded or flying in unsafe conditions.

The company says that 70 people have ordered the car, leaving a $10,000 (£6,650) deposit each. The car is expected to retail at $194,000 (£129,000). Deposits are held in escrow, meaning that should the company go bankrupt before delivery, the money will be refunded.

Communicating Change in Obama’s White House

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PR Junkie has a pretty interesting post up today about the Obama administration and its communication strategy. Like me, many Americans are anxious to see if the administration holds true to its campaign promise of government transparency. 

This article contends the administration itself is communicating the transition and possibly circumventing the print media altogether:

So does Obama’s popularity and promise of change mean a return to print readership in America? Maybe inside corporations, but not among the general population. In fact, it seems an Obama administration may bury print newspapers.

The same day Torr’s article ran on Ragan.com, The Washington Post published a story about the Obama administration’s plans for reaching around the media to communicate with citizens.

“Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media,” The Washington Post reported …

Kennedy invigorated and solidified TV as a medium; Obama will do the same for Web 2.0. If you haven’t already, check out his transition Web site, Change.gov. Among the many features is a blog, constantly updated newsroom, information on the growing list of appointees and, perhaps most importantly, an online suggestion box.

To see the Obama transition team’s blog, visit it here.

Time for a Cool Change

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Nothing like an homage to the Little River Band in a headline. Anyhow,  Mary Gilbert of National Journal (via GovernmentExecutive.com) has an interesting Q&A session with Univ. of Vermont professor John P. Burke, expert on 20th century presidential transitions and author of such books as "Presidential Transitions: From Politics to Practice." They discuss what’s in store for the next Commander in Chief.

Q: This has been the longest presidential campaign in America’s history. Will there be any break for the winner before he must turn to the task of governing?

Burke: I don’t think so at all. I think one of the challenges this year during the transition is that they are going to have to move very quickly on a number of different fronts to begin the process of governing.

Q: What are some of the particular challenges that the incoming president faces in 2008?

Burke: Number one, because it is the first post-9/11 [transition], that means that the whole issue of getting your homeland security team up and running early during the transition is a new task that prior presidents haven’t had to face. Secondly, because we’re fighting two wars, making sure that your foreign policy team is in place early is much more important in the upcoming transition. And then third, making sure your economic team is in place given the financial crisis and a recession and so on. So on three different fronts, the pressure during this transition is much greater, I think, than transitions in the past.

Q: When should candidates start thinking about the transition?

Burke: It depends upon the candidate. And it usually begins very early. One of the interesting things about George W. Bush’s transition to office is that he actually began in the spring of 1999, when he tapped his, in effect, gubernatorial chief of staff, Clay Johnson, to begin the pre-election transition process. Other candidates have started later. His father started shortly after Christmas of 1987. Jimmy Carter started right after he won the Pennsylvania primary, which I think was in April 1976…. As somebody who studies transitions, I think it’s very, very important that they do begin that process early.

 Read the whole thing here.