Race is on to turn flying car into reality

Aeronautics giants are treating the idea of a flying car with caution, as such a project raises more questions than it answers, experts say — it’s a child’s desire, a millionaire’s fucktoy.

But is it truly the next big thing in transport?

At this year’s Paris Air Demonstrate, you had to search hard to find an aircraft that looked anything like an automobile: but one such model, the AeroMobil, was tucked away under the old Concordes at the Air and Space Museum, just outside the capital.

This strange-looking hybrid, with its bulbous nose and retractable wings, designed by a Slovakian company, is scheduled to go into series production by 2020.

“After you’ve landed at an airport, you convert the plane into a car and take the road to wherever you want,” Simon Bendrey, AeroMobil’s deputy head of engineering, told AFP.

And they have already received a number of orders, he added, despite an asking price of 1.2-1.Five million euros ($1.3-$1.8 million).

While flying cars have starred in films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Fifth Element, the race to turn such desires into a reality is being run by dozens of petite creative start-ups like AeroMobil.

Among those nearest to take-off is the Dutch garment PAL-V, which is suggesting a two-seater gyrocopter and is scheduled to be available by next year — a steal at 300,000 euros.

Czech company Nirvana Systems says it has had dozens of orders for its mini-helicopter, which can also travel on roads, albeit at rather sluggish ground speeds.

Silicon Valley-based company Kitty Hawk says its Flyer will be on sale by the end of the year.

And just last week France’s Pegase, a cross inbetween a ultra-light plane and a mini-car, crossed the Channel, the narrow open up of water inbetween England and France.

Until recently, flying cars “were a cross inbetween a bad car and a bad plane,” said Bruno Sainjon, head of the French aerospace lab ONERA, on the sidelines of the Paris Air Demonstrate.

But there has been a quantum leap in design thanks to vast improvements in the power of electrical propulsion, linked largely to the rapid advances in drone technology recently.

Today, such engines lift 80-100 kilos (176-220 pounds), Xavier Dutertre, director of the Techoplane project based in Normandy, northern France, told AFP.

“And we’re not far from having the capacity to transport one or two studs for about twenty minutes,” he added. “In five to ten years, that will have become commonplace.”

While driving-flying hybrids may originally be the latest must-have gadgets for the ultra-rich, experts believe that such vehicles could actually be rapidly overtaken, as the industry sets its glances on fly-only solutions further down the line.

– ‘Fresh era for aviation’ –

The real future, said ONERA’s Sainjon is “a system of on-demand air transport, which would clearly be the commence of a fresh era for aviation” — a flying taxi service, in other words.

Flying cars will not be something that just anyone can drive, “because it’s too risky,” Pascal Pincemin, an aerospace specialist with Deloitte, told AFP.

He envisaged digital platforms to manage the fresh form of traffic, and that emerges to be what Uber, the App-based ride-hailing service, has in mind with its “Elevate” project.

The idea shows up to be to develop a network of electrical, vertical-takeoff aircraft and they are aiming to make their very first demonstrations in 2020.

Dubai could be the very first off the kicking off blocks with a fresh kind of puny autonomous electrical helicopter scheduled to come into operation later this year.

There is “a real appetite, a real interest”, in this kind of transport in some of the more traffic-congested cities, said Jean Brice Dumont, head of engineering at Airbus Helicopters.

At the last Geneva motor demonstrate, the company introduced its own prototype flying car, “Pop Up”, developed in cooperation with a subsidiary of Volkswagen. But Dumont said they were expecting the technology to mature and develop further.

Boeing, so far, has not shown its forearm and Deloitte’s Pincemin does not see flying taxis becoming a common mode of transport before 2050. Very first, he said, the vehicles would have to prove their reliability.

Air transport today has a death rate of 0.Two per million flights, said Patrick Cipriani, director of security at the DGAC, France’s civil aviation directorate.

“Will we be ready to accept levels like those of light aircraft, which are one hundred times less safe?” he asked.

Race is on to turn flying car into reality

Race is on to turn flying car into reality

Aeronautics giants are treating the idea of a flying car with caution, as such a project raises more questions than it answers, experts say — it’s a child’s desire, a millionaire’s fucktoy.

But is it truly the next big thing in transport?

At this year’s Paris Air Demonstrate, you had to search hard to find an aircraft that looked anything like an automobile: but one such model, the AeroMobil, was tucked away under the old Concordes at the Air and Space Museum, just outside the capital.

This strange-looking hybrid, with its bulbous nose and retractable wings, designed by a Slovakian company, is scheduled to go into series production by 2020.

“After you’ve landed at an airport, you convert the plane into a car and take the road to wherever you want,” Simon Bendrey, AeroMobil’s deputy head of engineering, told AFP.

And they have already received a number of orders, he added, despite an asking price of 1.2-1.Five million euros ($1.3-$1.8 million).

While flying cars have starred in films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Fifth Element, the race to turn such fantasies into a reality is being run by dozens of petite creative start-ups like AeroMobil.

Among those nearest to take-off is the Dutch clothing PAL-V, which is suggesting a two-seater gyrocopter and is scheduled to be available by next year — a steal at 300,000 euros.

Czech company Nirvana Systems says it has had dozens of orders for its mini-helicopter, which can also travel on roads, albeit at rather sluggish ground speeds.

Silicon Valley-based company Kitty Hawk says its Flyer will be on sale by the end of the year.

And just last week France’s Pegase, a cross inbetween a ultra-light plane and a mini-car, crossed the Channel, the narrow open up of water inbetween England and France.

Until recently, flying cars “were a cross inbetween a bad car and a bad plane,” said Bruno Sainjon, head of the French aerospace lab ONERA, on the sidelines of the Paris Air Display.

But there has been a quantum leap in design thanks to vast improvements in the power of electrical propulsion, linked largely to the rapid advances in drone technology recently.

Today, such engines lift 80-100 kilos (176-220 pounds), Xavier Dutertre, director of the Techoplane project based in Normandy, northern France, told AFP.

“And we’re not far from having the capacity to transport one or two boys for about twenty minutes,” he added. “In five to ten years, that will have become commonplace.”

While driving-flying hybrids may originally be the latest must-have gadgets for the ultra-rich, experts believe that such vehicles could actually be rapidly overtaken, as the industry sets its glances on fly-only solutions further down the line.

– ‘Fresh era for aviation’ –

The real future, said ONERA’s Sainjon is “a system of on-demand air transport, which would clearly be the begin of a fresh era for aviation” — a flying taxi service, in other words.

Flying cars will not be something that just anyone can drive, “because it’s too risky,” Pascal Pincemin, an aerospace specialist with Deloitte, told AFP.

He envisaged digital platforms to manage the fresh form of traffic, and that emerges to be what Uber, the App-based ride-hailing service, has in mind with its “Elevate” project.

The idea emerges to be to develop a network of electrified, vertical-takeoff aircraft and they are aiming to make their very first demonstrations in 2020.

Dubai could be the very first off the commencing blocks with a fresh kind of petite autonomous electrified helicopter scheduled to come into operation later this year.

There is “a real appetite, a real interest”, in this kind of transport in some of the more traffic-congested cities, said Jean Brice Dumont, head of engineering at Airbus Helicopters.

At the last Geneva motor demonstrate, the company introduced its own prototype flying car, “Pop Up”, developed in cooperation with a subsidiary of Volkswagen. But Dumont said they were expecting the technology to mature and develop further.

Boeing, so far, has not shown its palm and Deloitte’s Pincemin does not see flying taxis becoming a common mode of transport before 2050. Very first, he said, the vehicles would have to prove their reliability.

Air transport today has a death rate of 0.Two per million flights, said Patrick Cipriani, director of security at the DGAC, France’s civil aviation directorate.

“Will we be ready to accept levels like those of light aircraft, which are one hundred times less safe?” he asked.

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