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Slovakian Flying Car Makes Short Test Flight

Aeromobile 2.5 flying car.



If the Aeromobil’s characteristics sound familiar, it may be due to similarities between it and another flying car under development, the Terrafugia Transition. The Transition, built by the Woburn, Mass., company Terrafugia Inc., is also more of an airplane than a car. But like the Aeromobil, it is designed to be driven to and from the airport and to complete longer trips when the weather isn’t safe for flying.

The Slovakian vehicle appears to be a few years behind the Transition in development, but its presence suggests there is a market for such hybrid road-air vehicles.

Flying-car designs have been coming and going almost as long as cars and airplanes have been around. Some, like the 1950s Aerocar, worked but never caught on, possibly because people considered them impractical or lacking adequate performance on the road or in the air.

Today the combination of lightweight materials, more efficient engines and more flexible rules in civil aviation could make flying cars feasible for a broader audience.



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