Is it a car? Is it a helicopter? Actually it’s both. A futuristic dream becoming reality! The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road – meet the gyrocopter PAL-V Europe NV. “Driving and flying will be combined in one vehicle that could cost little more than an executive saloon car.”
Experts have designed the world’s first practical flying car aimed at frustrated commuters – and it looks like a Reliant Robin.
The bizarre three-wheeled vehicle promises relief to motorists stuck in traffic jams by turning into an aircraft capable of soaring up to 4,000ft above congested roads. With a top speed of 125mph on land, the Personal Air and Land Vehicle, or PAL-V, corners like a motorbike by automatically tilting as it negotiates each bend. But hidden in its roof and rear are a foldable rotor, propeller and tail section which allow it to take off and fly at speeds up to 120mph.
Its comical appearance betrays its rapid acceleration from 0 to 60 in just 5 seconds – a far cry from Del Boy Trotter’s yellow Robin Reliant in Only Fools and Horses. Its inventors believe that when the the one-seater cars go on sale to the public, they would cost little more than an executive saloon car. When airborne, the PAL-V is similar to the tiny autogyro aircraft Sean Connery flew in the 1967 James Bond movie ‘You Only Live Twice’.
The PAL-V Europe NV’s design includes a rotor on the roof to lift it through the air, and a propeller at the rear to provide forward thrust.
To fly the PAL-V you need a recreational pilot’s licence, which takes between 10 and 20 hours training to obtain, while a normal driver’s licence covers you for use on the road.
Your first questions will probably be: How does it work and why is this suddenly possible now? PAL-V Europe NV started in 1999 to study many technologies and evaluated various concepts. Experts have spent six years developing concept versions and are now building the first commercial prototype with a view to begin manufacturing the vehicles soon. It made numerous designs and patented all its findings, leading to the PAL-V One.
Their target audience are motorists who are fed up with traffic jams. John Bakker, who invented the PAL-V, said: “Since Henry Ford built the Model T Ford, people have been dreaming of a vehicle that could drive and fly.”
PAL-V Europe NV combines the safe and easy principle of flying, the gyrocopter with the recent “tilting car” technology of the Carver . PAL-V has the exclusive rights to all the basic patents covering this magnificent concept. In addition, PAL-V Europe NV has patents pending for, amongst others, a foldable rotor.
After 7 years of concept work, PAL-V Europe NV entered the next phase. It is building the first commercial prototypes to combine all technologies, to fine-tune the design, to start-up production and carry out the market launch of the PAL-V One.
European and American regulations allow people to fly the PAL-V with a sports aviation license. It takes between 20-40 hours getting a pilot’s license while driving can be done with a regular car driver’s license.cense.
In countries with underdeveloped infrastructure it means safe and faster transportation but also in developed countries it will save people lots of time.
Potential customers for professional applications like police surveillance, first aid or courier services as well as consumers for mobility and fun are registering at our company on a daily basis.
The PAL-V is a solution to the increasing levels of congestion in our cities, highways and skyways.
It took almost 90 years before this dream could be realized. Now it will.
It’s fun, it drives like the most sporty solution on the road and it also flies. This will be a revolution in door to door mobility in the near future.
The vehicle needs 165 ft to take off in and just 16ft to land, and it can fly for 340 miles under its fuel-efficient and environmentally certified car engine.
The same engine works for both road and air travel and runs on normal unleaded petrol, which means you can refuel at any roadside service station.
It can be driven and flown using the same controls by switching between two different modes.
On the ground, the slim-line vehicle is as comfortable as a luxury car but has the agility of a motorbike, thanks to its patented “tilting” system.
The single rotor and propeller are folded away until the PAL-V is ready to fly.
In the air, the PAL-V flies under the 4,000 feet floor of commercial air space and can therefore take to the sky without having to file a flight plan.
The autogyro technology means that it can be steered and landed safely even if the engine fails as it descends upright rather than nose-diving.
Unlike a helicopter, the rotor of an autogyro is driven by aerodynamic forces alone once it is in flight.
The PAL-V’s Dutch makers anticipate a time when such vehicles are so widely used that people will fly along sky highways, directed by GPS and using radar to prevent collisions.
They also claim there are already plans to build up to 60 heli-sites across their home country to cope with a new era of air traffic.
Besides, the skill level for good weather flying is very close to that for driving. The new Light Sport Airplane FAA specs call for just 20 hours total time in the aircraft before you are ready to make trips on your own, just about the same time a responsible parent would require of a new driver in the family.
The first Personal Air and Land Vehicle (PAL-V) available for anybody.