Flying car survives first intercity flight
Supposedly, the AirCar transforms back and forth at the touch of a button
We tried really hard to avoid the 'is it a bird, is it a plane' opening line, but looking at the AirCar Prototype 1, you can't help but be left wondering if it's supposed to be a plane with a steering wheel, or a car with wings. Either way, a road car that magically sprouts wings and turns its rear spoiler into a tailfin is what the movies always promised us.
So exciting news, then, as Klein Vision's AirCar is celebrating a key development milestone by successfully (goes without saying) completing its first intercity flight from Nitra to Bratislava, both in Slovakia, for a 35-minute journey.
Supposedly, upon landing, just one click of a button returns the machine to a 'sports car', saving you the distress of the non-EU passport control queue and missing baggage at reclaim. You can see in the video how the wings fold backwards into the tail that, in turn, shrinks its way back into the body of the car. It does mostly look like some kind of boxy McLaren with half a plane stuck on the back, but really, what else are they supposed to do? Your sketches on a postcard please.
The AirCar Prototype 1 is equipped with a 160hp BMW engine, running on regular road petrol, and has a fixed-propeller and a ballistic parachute. A second, pre-production prototype is next in the development stage, which will be equipped with a 300hp engine and an expected cruise speed of 186mph (162kt) and a flying range of 621 miles.
It's already undergone 40 hours of test flights - under supervision from the Civil Aviation Authority, they're keen to point out - including 45deg turns and manoeuvrability testing, and has flown at 8,200ft at speeds of up to 118mph (or 103kt for sky fans).
So those are the stats. But do you think the reality of flying cars will ever actually... take off?
That said, it's pretty cool to see something that has seemed so abstract and distant as a reality for so many decades come to life. I hope I am proved wrong.
If you have the space on your land, it could be a viable way to travel to an airfield a couple of hundred miles away. Then a short drive to your actual destination before making the return journey.
If you don’t have your own airfield, you could keep the car at home at your own expense, rather than paying hangar fees. A short drive from home to the airfield, then off you fly.
Edit: sure, the sensible solution would be to hire a taxi at each end of the journey. But who wants to live in a world where the sensible solution is the only option?
https://www.pal-v.com/en/the-pal-v-story
Remember the carver one - the tilting tricyle car? This is basically the same thing but with a big fan on the roof.
A terrible plane and a terrible car, all in one.
Why if you can fly, do you need to drive? Surely, once you can fly, you fly to where you are going and hence most credible personal flying machines look like scaled up drones:
They trade L/D efficiency for high maneouverability and vertical capability. They realise no one is going to be crossing continents in one (far too slow) they realise they are basically helicopters, not fixed wing aircraft
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