A number of companies are working on flying cars, but many of them are glorified helicopters. That’s certainly not the case with Klein Vision’s AirCar, which looks like an exotic sports car. However, it transforms into a flying car at the push of a button as the tail extends, while the wings rise and then lower into place.
We’ve covered the AirCar before, but it’s inching closer to production as the model recently completed a 35 minute flight from an airport in Nitra to an airport in Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava. When the aircraft touched down, completing its 142nd successful landing in the process, it transformed back into a car in less than three minutes. The AirCar was then driven into downtown Bratislava by Professor Stefan Klein, who remarked “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 the individual.”
While the AirCar is still a prototype, it features a BMW-sourced engine that produces 158 hp and runs on conventional gasoline. The BBC also noted the two-seater can carry up to 200 kg. The AirCar has already completed over 40 hours of test flights and has reached altitudes of 8,200 feet (2,499 meters). Furthermore, the prototype has hit a maximum cruising speed of 118 mph (103 kt / 190 km/h) during testing.
Klein Vision already has plans for a more advanced prototype, which it refers to as a pre-production model. It’s slated to have a 296 hp engine, a variable pitch propeller, a cruising speed of 186 mph (162 kt / 300 km/h) and a range of 1,000 km.
