A Massachusetts company founded four years ago by graduates of the is getting ready to take its - or drivable aircraft - on its first test flight either later this month or early in February. Richard Gersh, a vice president at Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia Inc., told Computerworld Tuesday that the company is preparing to take a prototype of the vehicle, dubbed , to an airport in upstate New York for its initial flight.

"We are very excited," said Gersh. "We are all very energized. To actually have it fly is a dream come true. I'm not sure it's up there with the but it's awfully close."

The two-seater vehicle fits into the light sport aircraft category and has an anticipated price of US$148,000. Gersh said that the company so far has received more than 40 orders for The Transition. He hopes the first one will be in a customer's hands by next year.

Gersh noted that in the last several months the under its own power, undergoing on-road and taxi testing at the Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, Mass.. Then in December, The Transition was transported to upstate New York where it underwent high-speed taxi testing, meaning that it was driven at higher speeds by its own propeller.

Now, Terrafugia said he has a test pilot lined up for the initial flight.