Some people may call Alfie Carrington crazy or foolish. How else do you describe a man who has spent more than half his life building a flying saucer? By day a construction worker, Carrington spends his free time inside a rented storage garage in Clinton Township where he broods over a 14-foot-wide, carbon fiber, fiberglass vessel."Something genius is hiding away in Alfie's eccentricities," friend D.L. Bradley, a pastor in Clinton Township, said last week.Thirty years ago, when Carrington of Clinton Township was 27 and obsessed with science fiction, he set out to build a UFO look-alike. But something inside him cried out for more.Inspired by ordinary Americans like Orville and Wilbur Wright, who piloted the first heavier-than-air aircraft 103 years ago this month, Carrington pored over books, magazines and studies about aviation. Never mind his lack of engineering experience.He has spent nearly $60,000 for some of the materials he believes are needed to launch his creation -- a lot for a man who drives a rusted 1986 Mercury Cougar.Carrington does it because he believes he has discovered a simple design for an aircraft that aeronautical engineers have spent countless millions trying to build.

"People are going to say I'm nuts," Carrington shrugged.Unlike aeronautical engineers who have tried to build vessels for commercial flight -- most notably those who entered the X-Prize contest for a reusable privately built suborbital spacecraft -- Carrington's aim is more terrestrial. He wants to replace the automobile with a Jetsons-style vehicle."Why drive when you can fly 500 m.p.h.?" he asked.

View: Full Article | Source: Detroit Free Press

Hmmmmmmm....because over 40,000 people die in America alone every year due to traffic accidents in which the top speeds are usually less than 70 mph?! Because perhaps, an accident at 500mph couldn't be contained to a small area...needless innocent casualties occuring over a wide span?! Because maybe, our intercities and interstates as well are already so congested (not to mention the airspace) that high speed can only safely be obtained by jet airliners?

The guy is nuts....yes, he is! Because in 12 seconds..............12 seconds............I came up with several very concrete reasons why the thing would never be put to commercial use...(and I didn't even condsider the cost factor) and yet this guy has spent half of his life where the obvious never occurred to him?! He's nuts! A genius perhaps...but nuts nonetheless!

It will never work, and has in fact been tried before. It becomes unstable and will break-up into thousands of pieces. Check out project Silverbug.

"His idea is to fire up the vessel with a rotary engine to stimulate a magnetic levitation system to rotate the ship's two discs. The discs would draw air into propeller blades."

source

The project of which the Avro-car was a part was originally known as Project Y, funded by Canada, but was taken over by the U.S. Air Force in late 1953 - early 1954, as their Project 606, with an interest by the US Army.

It was hoped that the vehicle, designated VZ-9V, would ascend vertically and reach flight speeds of 1,500 mph (2,400 km/hr). The President of Avro Canada wrote in Aero News that the prototype being built was so revolutionary that it would make other designs obsolete.

The craft was officially named the Avro-Car.By 1960 about 10 million dollars had been spent on the project. During tests, the aircraft could not rise more than four or five feet above the ground without becoming very unstable.

Attempts were made to design mechanisms to increase its stability without success. It was hoped that the project would consolidate the future of the A.V. Roe company, but it was discontinued in 1961, and A.V. Roe went out of business

Ah. Come on guys. Give this guy a break and let him try to do it. Hey. You never know what will happen. Perhaps it could help the millitary.

Many useable items start with a big dream.

Who knows? He may not end up being able to go 500mph,but he might actually make something that will end up starting a new field of personal transportation.

The problems with such an item are apparent though...such as how much fuel can it carry and how far can it go on a full tank of fuel,is there a way to make it safe enough for everyday usage by the general populace,how much and what type of training will people need in order to use it,what is the maximum weight allowance for it,how high can it go...etc.

If he does get it off the ground and it proves to be useable,I doubt that it would be sent into mass production any time soon.Most of the world would not be ready for any type of change in the way of personal transportation just yet.

But...I have to give him kudos.He's got a dream and he's following up on it.His invention may work and cause a lot of people to start looking into new possibilities.It might not work,and still give others enough of a push to look into other possibilities.

We'll just have to wait and see.

If he does pull this one off, his work might be put in to good use in some other way. Commercial public transpo: probably not in the near future. I’d give it another century, or never.
But let us not be judgmental.

Currently, one focus of city planners is on lesser commute time, not through speed, but proximity.

Geez, so pessimistic.

It's the basic premise of an alternate means of transporation that makes this exciting.. it's not like this man is trying to start his own assembly line or anything!

Not really being pessimistic. Just being real. Exciting? I guess that depends upon one's definition. I think on one hand, to be completely positively focused is the best thing anyone can do...but to be completely positively focused on a bad idea is nuts.

I want one.

Does anyone know if Alfie has a webpage showing his building progress on the Net somewhere?

Well at least he has a hobby...

where are the laser guns? he's got it all wrong