The Federal Aviation Administration tends to be tough on new aircraft when it comes to certification, and the Skycar might have been in for a particularly bumpy ride if it were forced to qualify as either an ordinary plane or a helicopter, since it combines features from both. Prospects for the Skycar have received indirect boosts in recent years from surprising quarters. Moller looked into an initial public offering but couldn't find an interested high-quality underwriter. Robertson even had Moller present at a technology conference it sponsored for investors. The only investment bank willing to get involved was Robertson Stephens, which put together a $1.5-million private placement marketed to a handpicked list of its clients. He made his way through much of the Fortune 500 without encountering a glimmer of interest. He tried aircraft manufacturers, which for the most part insisted they had enough problems getting ordinary planes and helicopters right. He contacted most major automakers about buying into his company, but they told him point-blank they had no interest whatsoever in flying vehicles. "We've explored every option known to man," he says. (Just building a one-twelfth scale model of the Skycar for dog-and-pony shows cost $20,000.) Before beginning work on the Skycar, Moller had tried to broaden his fund-raising efforts. Moving ahead to the Skycar project had only increased the pressure to raise money, because of the vehicle's added complexity and the need to make it a practical, certifiable aircraft. All suits were resolved in his favor, he claims. Moller sued one company for refusing to pay royalties on an engine design that he says violated one of the 43 patents Moller International owns on its technologies. Moller says that he's been involved in about nine lawsuits, everything from disputes over distributor contracts - including one with a large investor and former board member of the company - to liability for allegedly faulty muffler parts. (He also races go-carts, and he plays racquetball daily.) "I thought they were going to chain the door that time," he recalls.
He owns the building he operates in, but he's lost and regained it twice, once frantically negotiating to keep it while lying in a hospital bed with a broken neck from a motorcycle-trail-riding accident.
Like the resulting prototypes, Moller's finances were underpowered and lurchy. Everything Moller could scrape together from investors and his side business ventures was instantly gobbled up by flying-car R&D to the tune of as much as $3 million a year.