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| Czech pilot Pavel Brezina (L), owner of Nirvana Autogyro company, has made a "GyroDrive" -- a mini helicopter you can drive. (AFP Photo/Michal Cizek) |
Bochoř
(Czech Republic) (AFP) - As global automakers compete to bring the first flying
car to market, Czech pilot Pavel Brezina is trying a different tack: instead of
creating a car that flies, he has made a "GyroDrive" -- a mini
helicopter you can drive.
The
engineer and owner of Nirvana Systems, a company producing motors for small
flying machines, insists his vehicle is the first in the world authorised to
operate both on roads and in the air.
"This
is the only road certified flying vehicle I know about," Brezina told AFP
in a hangar at the Prerov-Bochor airport in the eastern Czech Republic.
"Everyone
is trying to make a high-speed car that can fly, but this is a different
thing," said the tall, bespectacled 51-year-old, who has 30 years'
experience as a pilot under his belt.
His
GyroDrive vehicle is based on a gyroplane -- a mini-helicopter -- that uses a
copter-style rotor to move up and down, and an aeroplane-type "pusher
propeller" to go forward.
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Pavel
Brezina's GyroDrive vehicle is based on a gyroplane -- a mini-helicopter --
that uses a copter-style rotor to move up and down, and an aeroplane-type
"pusher propeller" to go forward. (AFP Photo/Michal Cizek)
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Brezina's
company buys gyroplane kits from a German firm, and then assembles and equips
them with a system allowing the pilot-driver to switch between a petrol engine
propelling the rotors and an electric engine that drives the wheels.
The
two-seat GyroDrive has a maximum driving speed of just 40 kph (25 mph) and can
take its crew of two on short drives to a petrol station or a hotel.
It needs
less than 100 metres (110 yars) to take off and reaches a top speed of 180 kph
in the air. Its flying range is 600 kilometres.
After
landing, the pilot only has to fix the main rotor blades along the axis of the
GyroDrive and pull out a built-in licence plate to transform it into a road
vehicle.
Prices
start at 1.5 million koruna (57,000 euros, $63,500), but they can reach four
million koruna, depending on specifications.
'Robust
testing'
While
Brezina is already planning to take his wife -- also a pilot -- and two
children to London aboard GyroDrives, inventors worldwide are frantically
working on prototypes of cars that fly.
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In
Slovakia, the AeroMobil company says it has received dozens of orders from
customers for a flying cars such as this one, which is expected to hit the
market in 2020. (AFP Photo/VLADIMIR SIMICEK)
|
In
neighbouring Slovakia, the AeroMobil company says it has received dozens of
orders from customers for a flying car expected to hit the market in 2020.
"We
want to build a vehicle that will not only be able to fly and drive but also
fulfil each technical and legal requirement," says AeroMobil CEO Juraj
Vaculik, touting "a robust testing programme".
He told AFP
that AeroMobil initially plans to produce 500 units of its winged car, which
uses a turbo propeller to get off the ground.
The
AeroMobil is expected to reach a top ground speed of 160 kph and up to 360 kph
in the air, with a flying and driving range of some 700 kilometres.
In mid-May,
Japan's Toyota also unveiled plans to launch a three-wheel flying car dubbed
SkyDrive using retractable wings and drone technology.
The vehicle
is expected to have a top flight speed of around 100 kph, hovering around 10
metres off the ground. It will have a top land speed around 150 kph.
Silicon
Valley flying car startup, Kitty Hawk, reportedly backed by Google co-founder
Larry Page, released a video in April of its airborne prototype and announced
plans for deliveries of a "personal flying machine" this year.
Other
firms, including ride-sharing service Uber, also have soaring ambitions for
their flying car prototypes.
 |
AeroMobil
CEO Juraj Vaculik at the wheel of the firm's 'flying car'. (AFP
Photo/
VLADIMIR SIMICEK)
|
Not for
everyone
Brezina got
the licence plates for his GyroDrive in March, three years after starting the
project.
For his
first trip, he flew some 230 kilometres west to an airport on the outskirts of
Prague, then drove downtown to have a cup of coffee in the Czech capital's
central Wenceslas Square -- and got stopped by the police on the way.
"Well,
if you saw this driving through Prague, wouldn't you stop it? I would,"
chuckles Brezina, adding the police merely checked his papers and did a
breathalyser test.
Brezina
told AFP he has already been safely flying gyroplanes all over Europe and beyond
for the last seven years with a group of friends.
"I
would liken it to a group of motorbikers, this is actually a 3D motorbike. We
also travel to other continents where we rent gyroplanes," he said.
Looking
into the future, Brezina said he doubts GyroDrive will take over roads and
airways.
"First,
it requires a set of certain qualities to become a gyroplane pilot, and second,
it's not just about pushing a button. I think it will spread, but not on a mass
scale."
Co-financed
by the Slovak government, AeroMobil will not be everyone's flying car either
because of its eyewatering price tag of 1.2-1.5 million euros ($1.35-1.7
million) per unit.
It will
rather serve as "some kind of a flying Uber service," Vaculik said.
"Our
concept is that not many people would own this flying car but many will be able
to use it," he added.
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