BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — AirCar, a dual-mode car-aircraft, moved closer to production with a milestone 35-minute flight from the international airport in Nitra to the international airport in Bratislava on June 28, 2021.
Klein Vision‘s patent protected AirCar completed its 142nd successful landing in Bratislava at 6:05 a.m. After landing, at a click of a button the aircraft transformed into a sports car in under three minutes and was driven by its inventor, Professor Stefan Klein, and Klein Vision’s co-founder, Anton Zajac, to downtown Bratislava, cutting the typical travel time by a factor of two, according to company officials.
The AirCar Prototype 1 is equipped with a 160-hp BMW engine with fixed-propeller and a ballistic parachute. Under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority, the AirCar has completed more than 40 hours of test flights, including 45° turns and stability and maneuverability testing. The prototype has flown at 8,200 feet and reached a maximum cruising speed of 190km/h (103 knots), company officials report.
AirCar Prototype 2, the pre-production model, will be equipped with a 300-hp engine. It is expected receive an EASA CS-23 aircraft certification with an M1 road permit. With its variable pitch propeller, the Prototype 2 is expected to have a cruise speed of 300km/h (162 knots) and range of 1,000 km (621 miles), company officials noted.
“This flight starts a new era of dual transportation vehicles. It opens a new category of transportation and returns the freedom originally attributed to cars back to the individual.” said Professor Klein after exiting the AirCar cockpit in Bratislava.
“AirCar is no longer just a proof of concept — flying at 8,200 feet at a speed of 100 knots, it has turned science fiction into a reality,” added Zajac.
As with all new technology, the learning curve and application varies and grows with time. Mistakes are made ,new things are learned. Where and when a real flying car ever matures is unknown. My hat is off to all men and women that put their time,effort and some times their own money into this endeavor.
Good luck to all.
Setting aside whether it is a practical airplane (or car), I take my hat off and congratulate these people for such a cool design. I particularly love the way they handle the wing folding. I wonder how much it weights though.
Regardless, it gets my approval for being the first flying car design that I don’t think its stupid (or looks that way) 😊 I am really tired of seeing companies show Microsoft Flight Simulator renderings and then you wait for the real thing to fly which never happens. They least demonstrated this prototype could do something more than a flight around the patch.
I also thought it was cool that people where in the streets doing videos and cheering as it went by. Cool to see some enthusiasm for technical things and aviation in particular.
Chris
A 100kt car/plane is just as laughable as an electric plane with 30mins of flying time.
That’s faster that the Cessna 120 that I fly. She’s been flying since 1946. Go ahead and laugh.
I really impressed that it can do a 45 degree turn!
I thought we were over the whole flying car concept. Looks like they were able to create a hideous machine that makes a poor car and airplane. It doesn’t look like it could be operated on any type of public roads with the absurd dimensions, and imagine the insurance rates when you have geezers crashing into you all day in the parking lot.
That was a cheery point of view. As a geezer engineer I agree that there are to many compromises to make either flight or ground systems to be efficient. Considering it’s likely cost, It won’t be a F1 Mclaren or an average Cessna 172.
I wouldn’t call it hideous anymore than many airplanes going back to the Wright’s, although the paint job needs some serious ‘decorator’ talent.
The drawback, as with all the dual mode contraptions is cost and practicality. Couple any wide-spread proliferation of them with all the nonsense ideas of having drones doing everything, including delivery of morning coffee from Starbucks, and the problem will be a lot more than bird strikes are now.
They do show it driving inside a European city. Doesn’t get any narrower than that but I imagine they picked the widest streets they could find 😊.
I wonder what happens when somebody hits it with a door while parked at a supermarket? Grounded till an A&P can sign it off?