Parajet SkyCar is being touted as the world’s first road legal flying car which comes with an aggressive design and sporty looks, as the makers claim. Man’s dream has been to fly always and that was fulfilled when the flight was invented. However, most of us have secretly dreamt or fantasized about cars flying in the air.

Many have even gone ahead and designed such cars but none had ever been legally allowed to be manufactured and sold to public. Parajet SkyCar flew from London to Timbuktu in an attempt to trace the early adventurers who lost their lives in the dreary deserts of Saharan landscape.

They are already accepting fully refundable deposits of 10,000 Pounds where as the real cost of the Parajet SkyCar is $81,700. It is expected to be released in 2010. It would be interesting to fly a car but this would call for new kinds of traffic rules. Imagine a car suddenly starts to fly in the middle of a traffic jam in London! Of course, it is clean and green.

Via: Auto Blog Green

A revolution may be on the way, heralding an age where we would be able to drive down the road and immediately take off into the air in the same vehicle. Terrafugio, a company from Massachusetts, has just completed the first test flight of a flying car.

The Transition may just be a breakthrough in the world of transport. The test flight had the transition up in the air for a 37sec flight at a height of 3,000 at the Plattsburgh international Airport on March 5th. The car appears to be fashioned after racing cars from an earlier era and has wings attached to it, which remains folded during its drive on the road. In 30 seconds flat, the car can change into flight mode although it is not known yet whether this can be accomplished by the touch of a button. The car runs on unleaded gasoline in both modes and, according to Terrafugia, can hit 450 miles at the speed of over 115 miles.

Although the Transition is still in the testing stage and has a few years to go before it can hit the road and air, Terrafugia has already received 40 orders for the Transition. Available at $194,000 with a refundable deposit of $10,000, the Transition would be classified as a Light Sport Aircraft which means you would require a Sport Pilot license to fly it. But you can still drive it with your old license!

Via: Luxury-Insider

The Skycar project by a team of explorers and motorheads from London is really grabbing the attention of the world for more than one reason. Apart from creating a flying car that aims to run from London to Timbuktu on a route that mixes both land and air, the Skycar uses both biofuel which is considered great for the planet and can switch between land and air within a matter of just 3 minutes. The flying car aims to complete the journey from London to Timbuktu starting this January and the 6000 km trip will be the perfect test run for this future car.

The team has already spent over £130,000 on the project and this machine that combines a modified 140bhp Yamaha R1 superbike engine with the gearbox of a snowboard vehicle and a fan of a swamp boat is really a cool combination between air and road transport. It can accelerate up to a speed of 170 mph on land and its acceleration can match that of any sports car on land. In air, it is expected to reach an altitude of 2000-3000 feet and a top speed of well over 100mph.

The Skycar will use the giant fan and the parachute to move I air and when stuck in traffic, a car like this would be invaluable indeed. There is no way all the money can buy you that sense of freedom, but if the test run succeeds you might be able to get a Skycar for £35,000 and £40,000 for a standard model and £60,000 for a high-performance sports version. Air-lifting out of traffic- Stuff of dreams indeed!

Via: Timesonline

Flying car is more often a Hollywood creation than an actual reality and even at this point where technology might be advanced enough to make it possible, one just gets the feeling that there might be plenty of hassles when every other person is allowed to take the skies. Moller International has been on a course to modify the Ferrari 599 GTB into a flying car ‘Autovolantor’, a car with an ability to lift you out of traffic and liberate you from the long queue that you are stuck in. This would be the ultimate delight for those driving the conceptual Autovolantor and it would also be the ultimate frustration to all others around.

Just imagine a car behind you stuck in a long traffic queue lift up into the air and just fly away while you reach home 4 hours later after going through the maze on ground. That is ‘adding insult to injury’. The Ferrari 599 GTB was found to be the perfect car to be modified by Moller International and once again that speaks volumes about why Ferrari is so special. Autovolantor will be fitted with 8 fans to lift it vertically up in the air and will have a ground mileage of 150 miles while it would be 75 miles in air. The car can also reach up to an altitude of 500o feet and is expected to go at 150 mph in air.

The Autovolantor still has many skeptics around it and while there will be few who will believe that flying cars will further add to national security woes, there will also be many who will happily shell out $ 500,000 for one of these.

Via: Telegraph

Jetsons was a cartoon show that was envisaged on the future and the future is here! We have waited long enough for our fantasies of a flying car that will save us from the jammed traffics and it seems likely that in a date close enough we will be living those fantasies going by the number of flying car concepts that keep coming up every other day.

Developed by a design student, Tibor, for a design competition, organized by Porsche Hungary, the Audi Calamaro is a futuristic concept that looks like a cross between a boat and a ski or even a compact jet ski with seats encased where the rider becomes a driver or maybe a glider will be more apt here.

Inspired by the “bone of a cuttlefish”, the shape sure seems true to its inspiration and sleek too. You can already form a vision of the fish transforming into a ready to take of mini flying machine. Though how exactly will that happen seems to be some part of some camouflage engineering as you can’t see any propellers, thrusters or even exhausts for that matter.

We can only wait for such concepts to actually take off from the ground and fly out of our imaginations intangible to the tangible reality!

Via Jalopink

Sky cars…Flying cars…and other such futuristic automobiles is a reason enough for us to appreciate the hard efforts made by design firms. After featuring the Pal-V Flying Car that looked more like a motorbike; the M400 Skycar concept from Moller is a four-seat flying car that is all set to ride on skies within three years time from now. The company claims that the M400 Skycar is the first viable, budgeted vertical take off and landing vehicle. It shuns your worry of cursing the traffic light that turns red every second you reach near it as there is not even a remote possibility of someone coming from the opposite direction.

The M400 Skycar engine is accessible and adaptable enough to burn an extensive array of fuels i.e. diesel to natural gas, allowing you refuel it irrespective of your location. Whilst running on normal petrol, the coupe can ride over 20 mpg, adequate to park your car and drive it to and from your start-up point but once in air is able to speed up to three times faster than any light airplane.

It also features a storage space inside the cabin for your grocery stuff. It is being said that it would hit the market at an anticipated price of £250,000 but if a measured demand is witnessed leading to mass production then it would cost £30,000- £40,000.

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With the surging rise at the technological front and growing population and pollution, the overt need expressed by every second person is the availability of the flying cars. And again the simpler response to calm or shun their needs is the routine statement: It is difficult to produce one. But now you ca revive your hopes as Moller International has plans to unveil their flying vehicles by 2009. Currently running in the completion stage of volantor airframe, it is anticipated that counted 40 models running on fly-by-wire, multi-engine would be delivered by 2009. The preliminary volantor sculpt available for sale in 1009 would be the M200G Jetson, designed for functionality at up to 10-feet above ground level.

Designed and developed as a vertical take off & landing (VTOL) fast, the budgeted two passenger personal leisure vehicle is inhibited to this elevation so that machinists will not be in requisite to avail a pilot’s license. Moller is hoping the success of it’s operationally along with safety during a nearly scheduled demo, which would shun the question of attaining private pilot’s license for taking a ride over it. The credit for its easy performance of M200G Jetson goes to integrated wire computer technology that supports the flying functionality leaving the pilot with the choice to take it in the direction he wishes to.

The vibration free models produces less noise and is competent to tour short distances on the ground likewise a sedan. Besides M200G, the Company is all set to offer the M200E, a kit-built edition of the Jetson that would be available for sale in early 2010. The sale of this limited edition Jetson will happen via an international auction and the prospective bidder can qualify as the proud owner by shelling out $150,000.

Via Gizmag

Claiming to the world’s first carbon neutral flying car, the Parajet Skycar is a part of the Skycar Expedition team plan that aims to take the attention grabbing coupe from London to Timbouctou in 2009. Using a blend of voyage and dynamic to battle the tough Saharan terrain, it would be covering the 3000 miles of journey from London to Timbouctou. Powered by a biodiesel-adaptable Yamaha R1 1000cc motorcycle engine, the motor of Parajet Skycar runs through an incessantly changeable diffusion either to control the stern wheels or to turn a large rear-facing propeller via a girdle coerce. When in fly mode, the Parajet Skycar would be suspended by the most recent ram-air wing and competent of take-off from a field or airfield within 200 meters. Unlike other aircrafts, it would be easier and secured to fly over it as it requires no pitch control and hence is unfeasible to freeze or leap.

During a calamitous wing failure, car system failure or mid-air smash, you can take rescue in deploying a parachute. Its steel casing hulk, succeeding sculpts are anticipated to be developed using aluminum, which will be lighter and thus augment series, presentation and baggage aptitude. It offers a self-governing 4-wheel deferment and rear wheel drive. One pilot can fly along with a passenger and on road the car will hasten 0-100 kmph in 4.5 seconds, offering a top speed of 180 kmph varying in a range of 400 km. Once in the air, it features a take-off speed of 60 kmph, top speed of 110 kmph and a range of 300 km. Well, if you don’t know then the alteration from “road edition” to “fly edition” and visa-versa takes only three-minutes. The model is likely to cost only £35,000.

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