Roger Connor
Role at the time: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum curator, speaking to CNN
Challenged the characterization
Statement summary
Connor distinguishes short airborne hops from sustained flight by a practical road vehicle.
“We’re not talking about sustained flight ... We are literally talking about hopping.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)CNN interviews Roger Connor before Tesla's Roadster demonstrationRoger Connor interview paragraphs, including the final quotation
Chris Isidore reports Connor's pre-event comments about sustained flight and the trade-offs between road vehicles and aircraft. His interview preceded the demonstration.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Reference point: Musk's description of the Roadster as a flying car. Before the demonstration, Connor says a street-legal car like the Roadster would be hopping rather than sustaining flight, which disputes the flying description. Closest competing label: Denied; it loses because he relabels what the vehicle would do rather than saying it cannot leave the ground.