AeroMobil 3.0: Time For Tea?
Cooler than Scaramanga's AMC Matador, this flying car actually looks smart in both configurations
The Slovakian company responsible for the 3.0 is no fly-by-night operation. Development of the first AeroMobil, the 1.0, began in 1990. That was very much a plane that could sort of drive on the road, if you didn't mind a Reliant Robin wheel format and a potentially worrying absence of wings.
Rear window demist system a tad extreme
Powered by the 81hp four-stroke Rotax 912 four commonly used in the light aircraft biz, the 3.0 has claimed top speeds of 124mph-plus in the air and 100mph-plus on the road. Air range is 430 miles at 15 litres of pump petrol per hour, while road range is 540 miles at eight litres per 100km, which is as near as dammit 35mpg.
As you can see from the vid, the AeroMobil certainly doesn't look out of place on public roads. Variable-angle wings give it short takeoff ability, and it's happy landing on grass strips, which should be of interest to powerfully-built PH director types. The final iteration will most likely come with handy features like autopilot and a parachute safety system. No word yet on price or availability, but the fact that it's now in a regular flight testing programme is the best hint that this is a real commercial prospect.
There's a telling Henry Ford quote on the AeroMobil site. "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motor car is coming. You may smile, but it will come." He probably didn't expect it to take 70 years, but the best things in life are usually worth waiting for.
[Sources: AeroMobil, JamesBondLifestyle.com]
You can't land it any old place, it needs to be at an airfield.
So you may as well just have a car, and keep it there. The only benefit to one of these is that you don't have to swap vehicles, from your good little aircraft, to your nice fast car. Instead, you have to transform your not-so-great aircraft into a crap, long car, which will take longer than just hopping into something else.
I commute from Essex to just outside Coventry airport regularly. This could be perfect for me if only I could find a parking space long enough. How long is this thing? 
Anybody know how much?
I don't know how they would go about regulating the skies for these things, but should they actually be viable at a price point that is within reach of the upper middle class, I predict success. You are looking at cutting average times between distances by almost half and increasing the fun factor by multiples.
The propeller in the back. Do any planes currently have that set up? I'm not a plane guy, but I don't think I've seen that set up before.
To me they seem pointless anyway as they are more or less impractical as either,like car/boat combos,they sort of work as both but not half as good as even the poorest car or boat in comparison.
I honestly feel that the flying car has more or less stagnated for 30-40 years and wont develope any further in terms of every day usability.
There have been some smaller developments here and there but most seem concerned with making them look better rather than actually making them better and more practical in relation to how they transfer from tarmac to air and vice-versa which has always been their Achilles heel,hours spent faffing around bolting on or folding up wings etc.
If you had a flying car in all honesty you would surely want the ability to seemlessly transfer from flying to driving and driving to flying.
Its highly likely that until we lose the wings and big exposed props and instead can invent a compact,practical mechanical form of providing lift they will always remain a gimmick.
When they look like some big old yank with flip down wheels and a pop out jet pod in each corner,just like the movies
i`ll be the first in the queue.Besides, the authorities have always shat bricks at the prospect of widespread access to the air. Unpoliceable really - and would certainly pull he plug before this ever gets close to us jonny normals. Fine over the plains of Texas or wherever it is in the vid but imagine what the Daily Mail would make of them dropping out the sky onto schools, housing estates and hospitals all over our pleasant but rather densely urbanised land!
"Sorry officer, I've only had a few ales..."
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