Aeromobil Flying Car Prototype Gets Off the Ground For the First Time 56
Zothecula writes "There is a saying in flying: 'If it looks good, it will fly well.' Stefan Klein, a designer from the Slovak Republic, has announced the first flight of his Aeromobil Version 2.5, a flying car prototype he has been developing over the last 20 years. This vehicle is a strikingly beautiful design with folding wings and a propeller in the tail. But will its flight capabilities match its looks?"
Re:Not really sure what I was expecting (Score:4, Interesting)
Yep - this is clearly a "drivable plane", not a "flying car".
That still has utility to be sure: it means you can store your plane in your own garage, and it gives you ground transport at your destination. But it still looks like you'd need to drive to the local small airport, fly to the destination small airport, then drive from there.
A proper "flying car" needs to be VTOL, so you can drive because that's cheaper, but switch to flying when you get caught in traffic.
This would just be awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
At what point does it stop being a compact car and just become a plane that can be stored in smaller places? It's not like he can just take off from the road, he still needs an airport. Doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of a flying car?
As a private pilot, one of these would just be the bomb! Small planes are at their best for medium range trips - between 100 and 500 miles. The biggest problem is that airports tend to be in outlying areas and there is almost always a 5 to 15 mile drive from the airport to your "real" destination. It's far enough to make Cab driving expensive and inconvenient, it's close enough that renting a car for a day seems like overkill.
In any event, it's a hassle to schlep your stuff out of the plane parked at the airport into the cab, wait 20 minutes, etc. Being able to land, fold wings, and drive that 5 to 15 miles would be just great!
Most people don't realize that nearly every city in the USA with more than 20,000 people or so has an airport within 10-20 miles.