It is not the first time you might have heard about a flying car, but a prototype of the flying car “the AirCar” by KleinVision has successfully completed a 35 minute test flight between the airports in Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia. The prototype is a hybrid car-aircraft that can transform itself into an aeroplane just by the push of a button. The car is equipped with a BMW engine and run on regular petrol-pump fuel.
In a press release, the company said,” 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 individuals.” The creator, Prof Stefan Klein claimed that the “AirCar” can fly for about 1000 km at a height of 8200 feet. The machine has already achieved 40 hours of flying time in the air.
The AirCar takes around 2 minutes and 15 seconds to transform into a flying aircraft. The wings of the aircraft are narrow and fold to the side of the prototype and professor Klein drives it directly into the town through the runway. The ‘AirCar’ can reach a speed of 170km/hr while cruising in the air and can carry weight up to 200kgs.
The ‘AirCar’ resembles the traditional design of the car closest to every prototype we have seen so far. Morgan Stanley, a company consultant predicted in 2019 that this sector will be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040 and is the next frontier to public transportation.
These vehicles are focused to reduce strain on existing public transportation systems such as buses, trains and air travel.
In case you worry about the safety of ‘AirCar’ , then you can cast your thoughts away as the ‘AirCar’ comes with a ballistic parachute. It will receive the EASA CS-23 aircraft certification with an M1 road permit. The current prototype runs on a 160HP BMW engine. The next model that is in per-production is planned to receive a 300HP engine. The second prototype is expected to have a cruising speed of 300km/hr and a range of 1000km.