Flying Car on Google Earth

Status: Undetermined
The Register has found what appears to be a flying car, captured by the satellite imagery of Google Earth. It's definitely either a flying car, a car parked alongside a dark-looking patch on the ground, a car-shaped object floating in the air... or maybe a UFO! The Register provides some screenshots of the object, but unfortunately no direct link. (Google Maps doesn't cover Australia, so you'll need the Google Earth program to see it). The mysterious object is located at Pt. Walter in Perth, Australia.

image image

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Posted on Mon Jan 23, 2006



Comments

*Makes a note to keep an eye out for flying cars*
Posted by Smerk  on  Mon Jan 23, 2006  at  11:39 PM
And it is available on <a >Google Maps</a>. You just have to be very patient to search for it.
Posted by Smerk  on  Mon Jan 23, 2006  at  11:49 PM
It could always be a car on a stick.
Posted by daniel  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  01:01 AM
Maybe it's in the middle of an accident. The car could have hit a wall and be flying though the air...
Posted by davetolomy  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  02:33 AM
Thats no car. Thats a billboard, you can see the posts holing it up. Its just an optical illusion. Sorry folks.
Posted by C  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  03:37 AM
C, I bet you go around telling little kids there's no Santa too.
Posted by Craig  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  05:27 AM
Yeah! Spoilsport!
Posted by eovti  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  06:29 AM
It's a white car parked beside a black one -- that looks like its shadow.
But it cannot be its shadowd, because it does not match the other shadows on the surrounding scene.
Check:
http://www.ceticismoaberto.com/news/?p=676
For an image made by our team of monkeys trained by the CIA to analyze aerial imagery.
Posted by Kentaro Mori  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  06:38 AM
Looks like a billboard to me.
Posted by JoeSixpack  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  07:46 AM
Actually, it looks like an above ground storage tank, like the kind used to store petrol or water. It is too large to be a car. Compare it to the ones in the parking lot.
Posted by BugbearSloth  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  07:57 AM
Smerk, I can't get it on google maps. Maybe it's because I'm southern California. Google might restrict the Australian satellite imagery to people in Australia.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  12:56 PM
Scratch that. Suddenly it worked.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  12:58 PM
I think it's one of those advertising blimps or balloons such as car dealerships use. You can see both its tether and the tether's shadow heading towards the woods.
Posted by Lyra  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  01:02 PM
It's a car. Somebody though it was a dwarf...
Posted by Mark  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  02:14 PM
It could be a car on a stick. There is a car on top of a tower outside an auto museum in Renmark, South Australia (right next to the Big Orange).

It's probably a storage tank, though. It looks to be about 50% larger than the cars in the car park across the road.
Posted by Blondin  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  02:41 PM
Because the shadow appears a bit darker than other shadows, I thought it was a car next to a black pickup, creating the illusion of a shadow. But the shadow DOES match the angle of other shadows (look at the left edge of the line of trees by the body of water at the left side of the pic). Also the shadow is the same shape as the object, squared on the lower right and somewhat rounded on the upper left. There do appear to be posts holding whatever it is up. I measured, it is the same or close to the same size as other vehicles in the nearby lot. The angle makes it look bigger, but it's really not. I don't think it's a billboard, wrong angle for visibility from the road. If it's a raised structure like a tank, it appears to be in an odd location. Likewise if it is a car on posts as an advertisement. It looks too tall to be an open-air roof, such as a picnic shelter. So... I vote for finding an email address for an alternative newspaper in Perth and encouraging one of their offbeat journalists to solve this.
Posted by skeptic53  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  09:27 PM
P.S. It is at 32 degrees 00' 42.95" South, 115 degrees 47' 10.95" East on Google Earth. Put in Bicton, Australia. ENE of the square marked Bicton is a golf course with a long sandy point north of the course. The "flying car" is at the north end of the land, just south of the sandspit. It's in a large park north of the golf course, with a long dock and playing fields nearby. The road deadends in a large turnaround just north of the parking lot, making it an unlikely spot for a billboard or a commercial structure. Although it still looks too tall to be so, it probably is some short of shelter or bandstand cover.
Posted by skeptic53  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  10:03 PM
Skeptic53: So... I vote for finding an email address for an alternative newspaper in Perth and encouraging one of their offbeat journalists to solve this.

Yup...or it'd make an interesting drive for myself this weekend...
Posted by Smerk  on  Tue Jan 24, 2006  at  10:06 PM
My research shows that this is indeed a flying can; a DeLorean none the less. It was built during the 80s by a colleague of mine Dr. Emmett Brown, and driven by his apprectice Mr Marty McFly.
Posted by Dr Stink  on  Wed Jan 25, 2006  at  07:30 AM
Hell, I can build a flying can!


Dolt!
Posted by Craig  on  Wed Jan 25, 2006  at  07:38 AM
It isn't larger than all the other cars in the parking lot, as some people have said. In fact, it's a little smaller than some of them. And since the terrain around it is all flat and the "car" looks to be at least a dozen feet up in the air, I doubt that it's a car that hit a bump and got launched airborne (unless the Aussies have developed a car that can hit Mach 4). And the shadow isn't a black car parked near it, because if it was then the "flying car" doesn't have any shadow on the ground.

If it is a car, my guess would be that it's been put up on poles like a billboard. I've seen that done several times by car dealerships or repair shops; maybe somebody put it up to advertise the parking lot? Or, it could be something else up on poles that only looks like a car from this angle. Since the sun is coming from such a high angle down onto it, we can't really tell much about the vertical shape of the thing. We can only see that it's as wide as a car and as long as a car.
Posted by Accipiter  on  Wed Jan 25, 2006  at  11:26 AM
This is an awning up on poles, perhaps for a parking lot attendant to sit under for shade. You can even see the poles at the bottom right and left.
Posted by mmmark  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  11:29 AM
It looks like a water tower.
Posted by Nancy  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  11:56 AM
What none of you realize is that they were filming Back To The Future IV when this photo was taken. If you look real close, you can see Michael J. Fox eating a chilidog in the drivers seat.
Posted by Mr. Knowitall  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  03:21 PM
I sure hope smerk is planning on making that drive this weekend. Although it seems unlikely that the car would have been flying so slow that it hasn't moved.
Posted by hcmomof4  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  04:23 PM
BTW, do people realise that some of the images on Google maps are a bit dated? There might not actually be anything there, now. But if I get the chance, I'll go check it out...
Posted by Smerk  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  06:21 PM
There wasn't anything there by Jan. 25th according to this http://www.theregister.com/2006/01/25/flying_car_launch_site/

Sorry, I'm too lazy to figure out how to turn it into a link...
Posted by hcmomof4  on  Thu Jan 26, 2006  at  10:34 PM
It's quite a popular recreation area, I've been there a few times myself in the past. As I recall there are a few signs around, but my guess is that it's a shade awning or picnic shelter. I've sent the link to a mate who lives in Bicton, I'll let you know what he thinks... if Smerk doesn't get there first.
Posted by Monyet Miskin  on  Fri Jan 27, 2006  at  05:19 AM
Oops, I didn't realise this went to a second page when I posted the above comment.
So the car's already flown away? That's disappointing.
Posted by Monyet Miskin  on  Fri Jan 27, 2006  at  05:29 AM
More flying cars spotted on:
Posted by Dude!  on  Fri Jan 27, 2006  at  06:03 AM
Its simply a light coloured car parked alongside a dark coloured car. Look closely, you can see both the front and rear windscreens.
Posted by Peeps  on  Sun Jan 29, 2006  at  12:30 PM
Sorry C,
that is no billboard. Pictures of that area show nothing but grass in that area. Try again.
Posted by Alienmojo  on  Mon Jan 30, 2006  at  07:20 AM
I am very sure, it is a Kite start.
Look at the beach in the North, it is full of Kites.
Somebody is testing his Kite before he is going to fly, or to dry the Kite after the flight.
Some groundpictures in the following link are showing just sand and dust there.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/25/flying_car_launch_site/
Posted by Hendrik  on  Mon Jan 30, 2006  at  02:38 PM
I live only a few hundred metres from the location of this spectacular image near Pt Walter,in the Perth suburb of Bicton. There has never been a billboard in that area (though there is an information board with history of the area, a few metres away); usually it
Posted by Sarah  on  Mon Jan 30, 2006  at  11:27 PM
that rocks! how can i convert my mustang into a flying mustang!
Posted by Joe  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  12:52 AM
I wonder if it's something that Google Earth might have drawn in, just for fun or to check for people illegally copying their images?
Posted by Accipiter  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  10:01 PM
Here in Australia, particularly downtown Bicton, we have plenty of kangaroos wandering the neighbourhood. All your theories are good ones but the real answer is that a giant kangaroo has been cornered in a shed without a floor and has escaped by bouncing away with it. Kangaroos can reach heights of 5m above the ground, so i can imagine that with a shed on it's head it could still manage about 4m or 12ft.
Posted by Croc Dundee  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  10:11 PM
Yes I know all about the flying car,, It was designed to run on LP Gas, however the new owner inadvertently filled it with Helium Gas with startling results, as shown in the picture, if you look closely you can see the broken bowser hose still attached.
Posted by max leyland  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  10:58 PM
why would a black and white car park on the grass there? There are plenty of spare spaces in the carpark.
Posted by racy  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  11:31 PM
Croc Dundee: you wish!! there are no kangaroo's in Bicton. And there is no 'downtown Bicton' either.

As for why the cars didn't park in the carpark when there are plenty of space there: who knows!! but cars park there all the time so it's not out of the ordinary.
Posted by Sarah  on  Wed Feb 01, 2006  at  01:49 AM
Easy one, guys...

When I lived in the Midwestern USA, we used to have a lot of junk yards and small-town car lots that used cars perched on metal poles 20 to 30ft high.

They used them as advertising signs.

From overhead, this would cause the "flying car" look.....
Posted by Jerry  on  Thu Feb 02, 2006  at  08:16 AM
Okay, living only a few kms from where this supposed flying car is, I decided to check it out, and there is nothing there that can explain it. There is no car on a pole, neither is there any explanation for why there appears to be a floating car in the picture.
It appeared in the newspaper the other day, but they could offer no explanation for it.
Posted by Azriel  on  Fri Feb 03, 2006  at  06:26 AM
The flying car site has been photographed and documented. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/25/flying_car_launch_site/

A direct link is now available. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/23/flying_car.kmz

Continue theorising please =)
Posted by Xander  on  Mon Feb 06, 2006  at  07:33 AM
Here is what the object really is. The following was provided to me by a geologist colleague who lives in Perth. He takes his boat on the Swan River and has seen this "object" several times.

Quote: "The image is of a water tank on a stand which is about 20-ft tall.
Posted by steve craigg  on  Thu Feb 09, 2006  at  09:08 AM
The image at: <http://www.hgfa.asn.au/~hgawa/sites/perth/slides/mossie-morgan.html> may give you an idea of what the flying car could be - it shows a paraglider with Point Walter (where the flying car is) in the background.
Posted by Michael  on  Thu Feb 09, 2006  at  12:44 PM
You see other cars around so people must also be there. If this were a flying car, don't you think those people would have seen it and we would have a better picture than this obscure, ambiguous picture from space, not to mention good old fashion eye witness accounts? I think it's probably an awning propped up on poles, but it definitely is NOT a flying car.
Posted by Hazen Talbott  on  Thu Feb 23, 2006  at  01:32 PM
Hi, sorry for my english, I found a airplane flying over Buenos Aires city 32
Posted by LEAN  on  Fri Feb 24, 2006  at  09:48 AM
I live in Perth - only about 25 mins to Bicton and dive there all the time - I will try to find this and verify it.
Posted by Peter Ivory-Moss  on  Sun Mar 05, 2006  at  08:17 PM
From The Register's article, the object no longer exists there today.

THE BLACK SPOT IS A SHADOW, NOT A BLACK CAR. From the Google Map, the black spot matches the shadows of the trees, look at the free-standing trees South East of the object (you have to look on Google Map, not the small section of the map shown in this article). The SHADOW is cast at exactly the same angle as the shadows cast by the trees, and about the same height. Folks, the REAL question is, what did the Billboard say? "Enjoy a Fosters"? Why don't we contact the Perth local government to find out what structure would've been licensened or permit given for that location.
Posted by Billboard Conspiracy  on  Tue Mar 07, 2006  at  07:43 AM
I work near the Nedlands Foreshore and I see Kite-Surfers beside the waters edge on many afternoons. My guess is that its a kite surfer testing or drying his kite near his car.
Posted by Fun Spolier  on  Wed Mar 22, 2006  at  04:21 AM
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