Ready for Takeoff

Dietrich is the chief operating officer at Terrafugia, a startup team of young engineers and private pilots in the Boston suburb of Woburn. In 2007, they began building the Transition, a "roadable aircraft" that transforms from a plane to a car and back again. When they set up Meteer\´s test flight they hoped to prove the concept and test the plane\´s stability and controllability ("rock solid," Meteer said). But they understood that how its performance was perceived would be as important as how it felt: If they could get people to buy into the idea now, it would be easier to sell them on the product down the line.