[RahulNagaraj]

AirCar - a dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle from Slovakian-based company Klein-Vision, has successfully completed the first-ever inter-city flight. The flying car prototype completed a 35-minute 1,000 km flight between the airports of Nitra & Bratslavia in its home country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2tDOYkFCYo

Upon completion of the test flight, the prototype vehicle converted itself into a sports car in under 3 minutes and could be driven out of the airport. According to reports, the AirCar is said to have already completed 40 hours of test flights under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority. This includes steep 45-degree turns and other manoeuvrability & stability tests.



The AirCar prototype 1 which completed the inter-city test flight is said to be powered by a 160 BHP engine from BMW. The prototype is said to have travelled a total of 1,000 km at an altitude of 8,200 feet. The prototype was also said to have a cruising speed of 190 km/h. Prototype 1 also came with a fixed propeller and a ballistic parachute.



However, Klein-Vision states that the pre-production model - AirCar prototype 2, will be powered by a more powerful 300 BHP engine. It will feature a variable pitch propeller, offering a cruising speed of 300 km/h and a range of 1,000 km. Prototype 2 will also receive EASA CS-23 aircraft certification, along with an M1 road permit.

Link to Team-BHP news

[PrasunBannerjee]

The Future is here. What we dreamt of in childhood is on its path of becoming a reality. However, I feel any accidents by people in air will be more risky as it will risk people walking/living below too. Rising congestion on roads and air might be terrible. Another 10 years and these prototypes will evolve into better models!

[haisaikat]

No doubt this is one of our Back to the Future dreams coming to reality.

However I am assuming this is another ICE engine use case?

Should they not focus on more greener version of these vehicles. There are already parallel attempts to convert commercial aviation from fossil fuel drive to a fully electric power driven industry.

[RedTerrano]

Oh come on!
A car this long? That's like driving a truck in traffic. It might fly, but I don't suppose you will be allowed to take off/land from anywhere. That means you still need to use the roads to get to the airport.

Logically, one would need a flying license to fly this contraption. So the net result is what? A cheaper Cessna with collapsible wings?

Compared to this, I think this helicopter style eCar is more realistic. Go to the roof, take off, land on destination roof.

[V.Narayan]

Thank you for sharing this. Always fascinating. Interesting from a technical point of view but I suspect with limited practical usefulness - just my opinion -I am sure many would differ. An autogyro based flying-car is far more effective with the flexibility of where and in how little space it can land and take off from. Jeroen has a thread on that https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...lying-car.html (A visit to the PAL-V Factory | A close look at their Flying Car)

[TrackDay]

Doc would be proud to see this ! Hoping to see this pan out into more refined versions over the years. The risk of aerial congestion and these things falling on our head is also there, which might pose an issue with getting these things approved and for public use. Definitely not everyone will be able to get their hands on one due to the said reasons. Perhaps critical situation responders like cops, ambulance etc. can be early adopters.

[shree_shell]

Wow. I am one of those optimists who believe in a future with flying cars and this is one small incremental step towards it.

As far as the requirements for flying in such contraptions is concerned, I don't think humans will be allowed to have much control. The air space in a band of just 1000 feet is so huge, even today's autonomous tech can tackle this problem. If anything, when the driver or the car (shall I say micro-aircraft?) senses any anomaly, it can give control to a remotely located human-based station, and he/she will get the situation under control remotely. Plus there are parachutes if needed.

About the size, I don't think this is a big issue at least in USA. You should see the size of the trucks and trucks-with-campers/trailers.

[mvs07]

Just imagining the chaos in the sky's when these come to our land! We'll have cars raining down from the skies peppered with verbal blessings!!! ;-)
The road's are a safer bet then?
But, conceptually, amazing development this. Perhaps good use for law enforcement agencies...

[Jeroen]

Very interesting!

They have a very cool website, have a look at the transformation video here:

https://www.klein-vision.com/concept-2

Must have some ingenious mechanism for allowing the wings to fold up like that. Reminds me of the Transformers (remembers those cars turning into robots)

Actual detailled information on this flying car on their website is very spars. Which probably means they still have a long way to go before wrapping up the certification process. They mention the flying part of this car will be certified under EASA CS23. Most small single engine planes (such as the one I used to fly) are certified similarly.

A certification process on a new design can easily take up to ten years.

I send them an email asking about some more information. Their reply came almost immediately, whilst I was typing this message In my mail I mentioned I had been to PALV.

This is what they wrote back:

Hi Jeroen

My best guess on availability would be 12 - 18 months, and then, although we haven’t opened up Pre-Sales there are a lot of folks interested in buying and I expect there could be a waiting list depending how that works.

PALV will very likely be available sooner - so if that is the sort of vehicle you are looking for is might be a good choice.

I don’t know what options there will be as we haven’t set the specs for the production vehicle - besides the obvious the only standard piece of gear there will definitely be there is the ballistic parachute.

As far as familiarization goes, I haven’t flown the AirCar myself but the pilots tell me that is handles pretty much like a normal plane. Performance wise we are looking for 200 kts cruise and 1000 km range based on the predicted 300 hp Adept Engine. So basically this will be a very capable easy to live with aircraft. In road mode Stefan tells me he expects the AirCar to drive like a sports car. It might be a vehicle worth waiting for depending upon what you are looking for.

The ballistic parachute they mention is an interesting one. It is a safety device. If called for, the pilot can just pull a handle and a parachute rockets out of the fuselage. The whole plane, with pilot and passengers just floats back to earth underneath this huge parachute.

These ballistic parachutes can be retro-fitted to some planes. I know of only one manufacturer that comes standard equipped with it: Cirrus

Have a look at the “parachute” video in this link:

https://cirrusaircraft.com/aircraft/sr22/

Originally Posted by shree_shell

As far as the requirements for flying in such contraptions is concerned, I don't think humans will be allowed to have much control. The air space in a band of just 1000 feet is so huge, even today's autonomous tech can tackle this problem. If anything, when the driver or the car (shall I say micro-aircraft?) senses any anomaly, it can give control to a remotely located human-based station, and he/she will get the situation under control remotely. Plus there are parachutes if needed.

See above, this contraption is going to certified like any other single engine plane. Which means it is essentially allowed to fly under VFR (Visual Flight Rules), IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) and even is allowed to fly into “known Icing” conditions. It does need to be equipped for these different conditions though.

I am sure they will start with VFR only. IFR and all that other stuff make it more complex, more costly. Also, it puts additional requirement on the pilot’s certification and currency. Which tends to be a big problem for what is likely to be the typical owner profile. (Rich, with very little time).

Under VFR you can fly more or less anywhere you want to go, any direction any altitude . Actually, most small plane pilots have only a VFR rating. You don’t even need to communicate to ATC or Tower. (within the constraints of the airspace and VFR regulations)

Hundreds of thousands of planes, in the USA fly daily on VFR rules. Although the average fatal accident of these planes is about a plane/pilot a day, mid air collisions are extremely rare!

Autonomous flight for this aircraft is whole different ball game. Requiring a complete set of certification and systems.

Jeroen

[Dr.AD]

This is really a great development. Although it is clear that this is still in early development stage and the it will take a few years before this comes to production level, it is always thrilling to see such glimpses of the future.

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

The flying car prototype completed a 35-minute 1,000 km flight between the airports of Nitra & Bratslavia in its home country.

Sorry for nitpicking, but just wanted to check if I read it wrong or if there is a typo. A 35-minute, 1,000km flight? How is that possible? That is even faster than even the fastest commercial jets today. 1,000km flying in 35 minutes indicates supersonic speeds (average speed of about Mach 1.4).

[Mafia]

God!

I hate to wait for it!

flying airport to airport!? no, thank you!

It will be a couple of decades before the aviation industry allows takeoff from clear roads, if at all.

A verticle take-off and landing car may someday be accessible.

[VijayAnand1]

Wait until low range whirlwinds and gust of turbulence comes, should be fun. Nevertheless, the future is electric and propulsion that will only defy gravity, but it should have its own set of conundrums to overcome. We'll be there to witness it. Interesting times!

Cheers!
VJ

[RavSam]

Awesome! The first application for this should be ambulances. This can really really help a patient buy more time and get to the destination without any fuss of traffic.

[dhanushmenon]

As one could say as a cliche "The future is indeed here". However, a common man, even though wealthy, may still not be able to use this one. You would first need to have a civil pilot's license to get behind the wheels (rather, joystick) of this one.

A wealthy industrialist may employ a pilot to commute him. Still, with a cruising speed of 190 kmph (which translates to around 100 knots in aviation terms), this is still not faster than a helicopter. Neither convenient. Also, driving out that easy from the airport without customs and security clearances, is possible only when stage managed or for designed for photoshoots.

Cost factor would be another factor to consider. If it costs lesser than half as much of a helicopter, the rich boys may consider buying this. Even then, I think leasing a helicopter with associated maintenance and services would turn out to be much cheaper. Remember that aviation assets require maintenance and expensive ones at that. Helicopter and airline fleets break even with 'strength in numbers' for their consumables and spare parts. Economical viability to sustain operations with lesser numbers is still a long way forward.

That said, technological innovations are always welcome. When the first computer came into being, that bulky apparatus was expensive too. See how that invention has changed our lives now. Notwithstanding, I would still hold onto my horses to exclaim the cliche, "The future is here!".

[RahulNagaraj]

Flying car prototype awarded airworthiness certificate

AirCar - the dual-mode car-aircraft prototype from Slovakian company Klien-Vision, has been awarded its airworthiness certificate by the Slovak Transport Authorities.



Stefen Klein, the vehicle's creator stated that with the certificate, the company is now one step closer to starting mass production of the flying car.



Klein-Vision has been testing the flying car prototype for years now. The vehicle's testing is said to be in line with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards. Last year, the flying car prototype even completed its first-ever inter-city flight, covering 1000 km in just 35-minutes.

The company claims that the prototype comes with foldable wings, allowing the vehicle to convert itself into a sports car in under 3 minutes.



The flying car prototype is currently powered by a BMW-sourced engine producing 160 BHP and has a cruising speed of 190 km/h. The vehicle has space for two passengers and is capable of flying at an altitude of just over 8000 feet.

Link to Team-BHP news