A prototype of a flying car has been able to successfully complete its test flight between two major cities in Slovakia and has spent around 35 minutes airborne. The Klein Vision’s AirCar has flown between the cities of Nitra and the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, on Monday morning. This hybrid flying car is equipped with an engine made by BMW with 160 horsepower and works on a regular petrol-pump fuel along with a fixed propeller.
The developer of this flying car, Prof Stefan Klein, stated that the AirCar has the capacity to fly for around 1,000 km (equivalent 600 miles) and at an altitude of 8,200 ft (around 2,500 m). Up till now, the flying car has clocked up to 40 hours off the ground so far.
The time required by the car to transform itself from a regular-looking car into a small-sized aircraft is 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
After landing in the city of Bratislava on Monday morning, this compact aircraft transformed into an ordinary-looking car and was driven to the center of the city by Stefan Klein, CEO of Klein Vision, along with the co-founder of the firm Anton Zajac.
Pleasant experience
The narrow-shaped wings of the flying car fold along the sides of the car when it is on the ground. The creator Prof Klein was able to successfully drive it straight off of the airstrip and into the air. When he arrived in the town upon arrival, the landing was observed by multiple reporters that were invited.
Prof Klein described his experience with the flying car as very pleasant and normal after he drove the flying car in the morning on Monday.
The flying car is easily able to reach the cruising speed of 170 km/h when in the air.
The AirCar is able to carry two passengers at a time, with their combined weight limit to be within 200 kg (31 stones). But unlike the other previously made prototypes of drone taxis, it is unable to take off and land back on the ground vertically and requires an actual runway to complete the taxi.
There have been very high prospects for the nascent market in flying cars, which have long been signaled in the prevalent culture as a future idealistic milestone.
In the year 2019, a consultant company by the name of Morgan Stanley has predicted that the sector of flying ground vehicles would possibly be worthy more than $1.5 trillion by the end of the year 2040.
And during an industry event which was conducted on Tuesday, the Hyundai Motors Europe sector’s chief executive Michael Cole stated that this concept of flying cars is a part of our future.
Flying cars are now considered to be a potential solution to the current strain on the already existing transportation substructure.
Potential market
The firm behind the creation of AirCar, Klein Vision, said that the current prototype required more than 2 years to complete the entire process of development and costs less than 2 million euros in its investment.
The investor and advisor for Klein Vision, Anton Zajac, said that the firm could be able to attract a small amount of major global airlines or taxi sales, it would be considered a huge success for the entire company.
He also said that there are around 40,000 orders for this aircraft in the United States alone. If the firm is able to convert at least 5% of the total amount, to change the aircraft for flying cars, they would have a massive market.
Enjoyable concept
The senior research fellow in the aircraft and avionics at the University of the West of England, Dr. Stephen Wright, described the flying car as the combination of Cesna 172 and Bugatti Veyron. As compared to other aircraft that are currently available in the market, this flying car is not particularly louder than them or uneconomical in terms of the costs associated with its fuel intake.
He also admitted that this concept of the flying car is really cool, but he already has hundreds of questions regarding its certification. Any individual with capability could develop an aircraft, but the trick involving is to make it fly for the thick end of a million hours, with an actual person on board, and without having an unfortunate disastrous incident.
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