This Flying Car Has Been Officially Certified To Take To The Skies In Slovakia
In November 2020, Slovakian developer KleinVision revealed that it was testing out an AirCar that could transform from a road vehicle into an aircraft in just three minutes.
Now, the half-car, half-plane invention has been officially certified as airworthy, paving the way for it to take to the skies. The company said that the approval allows it to move towards the “mass production of very efficient flying cars.”
According to DW, the vehicle’s transformation is completely automated. With just the push of a button, the car turns into an aircraft that requires just 1,000 feet of runway to take off.
In order to achieve the certification, the innovation, which is powered by a 1.6-liter BMW engine, had to successfully complete 70 hours of testing, which included over 200 takeoffs and landings without incident.
It even completed its first intercity flight in June 2021, flying for 35 minutes between airports in Nitra and Bratislava. Upon landing, it then converted into a car and drove into the capital’s city center, as per CTV News.
The AirCar is able to reach a maximum speed of over 100 mph, and can fly at an altitude of up to 18,000 feet.
Going forward, KleinVision will seek to obtain a separate certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to launch the vehicle commercially, which it aims to achieve within the next 12 months.
“This is an official confirmation of our ability to permanently transform medium-distance travel,” said the developer, Stefan Klein.
Rene Molnar, Director of the Civil Aviation Division, hailed the AirCar as a breakthrough for the entire industry, saying: “It defines a new category of a sports car and a reliable aircraft. Its certification was both a challenging and fascinating task.”
View this post on Instagram
[via DW and CTV News, images via Klein-Vision]
