Since the beginning of time man has dreamed of flying, and in fact his early concept of flying was that of Pegasus a winged stallion. In the early 1900s man invented the automobile, followed shortly by the Wright brothers and their successful first flight at Kitty Hawk. Now in 2008 man's quest to combine both avenues of travel to come up with a new Pegasus is taking major steps forward.  | | Caravellair - wings folded driving on the road |  | | Caravellair - ready for take off. | Joe Caravella of Caravella Aerospace was at Airventure 2008 with a mockup of the Caravellair, Joe's concept of an affordable roadable aircraft. For those unfamiliar with the term roadable aircraft, it means a vehicle that is capable of legally driving on US highways, but has the ability to unfold its wings and take off from a local airport or flying field. The Caravellair is planned to be an all metal kit built experimental aircraft, that can be street legally operated as a motorcycle. The idea is to be able to drive down the road with the three wing panels folded up against the fuselage, and the tail section retracted in behind the wings. To keep the costs down the craft will use a manual re-track system, for both the wings and tail. To fold or unfold the aircraft is planned to take one person approximately 15 minutes. The Caravellair uses a reverse tricycle gear configuration with two wheels at the front, with power being supplied by the rear wheel on the ground, and a pusher propeller in-flight. The design utilizes a high wing with twin booms running to the tail with dual rudders. The flight control systems will be operated via a single yoke control for elevator, ailerons, and rudder pedals, with a separate throttle. On the ground the craft will be operated via a steering wheel, clutch, brake pedal, and gearshift. Very similar to a car with a manual transmission. Power on the ground and in the air is supplied by use of a motorcycle transmission and drive train. On the ground the rear wheel of the motorcycle pushers the vehicle, while in the air a belt drive system with a reduction drive turns the propeller. The plan is to for a full throttle engine engine RPM of 7000, with the prop speed reduced to 3200 RPM. The Caravellair will meet the new experimental light sport aircraft category specifications and thus will be able to be operated with a sport pilot license. Joe is in the very early stages of development but hopes to have the roadable version of the aircraft working by Airventure 2010. | 
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