Brit An adventurous office developer and "extreme golfer" who was the first man to circumnavigate the UK by jetski now plans an expedition to Timbuctoo in a combination motorised parachute and dune buggy. The "Skycar" vehicle is described as "the world's first bio-fuelled flying car". Concept art from Parajet - the proposed "Road …
Barring some sort of antigravity device, this is probably about as close to a practical flying car as we're going to get for some time. It does STOL, it's pretty much burke-proof, having a parafoil wing, and the aeronautical bits fold into the boot (parafoil again) so you don't have to drive around looking like aircraft origami.
That little lot coupled with a three minute transition from one to t'other makes me think they have a winner.
In an ideal world a flying car would have a better solution to the wing conundrum and do VTOL. However, as far as I can see the only contender in this area is the Moller product, but that seems to be more of a device for converting venture capital into bullshit than a flying car.
I saw a picky of the actual car in the paper. Basically a small of road buggy with the parachute wing thing. Very sensible and ideal for African exploration. Get to a river or canyon and just fly across. I agree its fairly idiot proof as they just float down if you cock it up.
Shame they are so noisy as they fly the 1 man paragliders over my farm its its bloody irritating. Like having a chansaw in next door garden for 2 hours.
In all current practical uses for flying cars (getting around in wilderness environments/rich cocks dicking about in the countryside) this is totally the way to go. It's got to be easy and quick to switch between the two and it also has to be practical to use in both configurations. Most flying cars rely on keeping the wings somewhere separate and being able to fold them up and pop them in the boot is a total bonus.
I want one of those biatches!
Just for the information of all involved: the skycar is actually Giles Cardozo' project, not Laughton's. The reason that Laughton is getting all the credit is because his is the more familiar name being used for promotion. The car was thought of by Cardozo, designed by Cardozo and built by Cardozo. Laughton brought in sponsorship. Ditto with the Everest expedition. Cardozo designed and built the engines for the trip; Laughton didn't even fly on that occasion claiming it was too dangerous.
Nothing against Laughton; he's a great guy and I like him very much, but I'm actually involved in the project, and was a bit surprised by how little Cardozo's name was mentioned.
Won't work for avoiding rush hour into downtown, of course – no flying car ever will. But for getting between two rural locations with no direct land route between them, it could be useful. Also good for avoiding security checkpoints at borders and such, but remember to go around, not over, so they won't try to shoot you down.
Flying cars already exist - didn't Joe 90's dad have one? And, according to various crackpots on the 'net, the US has anti-gravity anyway - as 'seen' in the Iraq war.
Slightly more seriously, can you imagine the kind of cretins that we all see driving around every day with the freedom of the skies? These gits don't even understand what indicators are for...
Rrreeeeoowwww! Lewis. What did Laughton do to you to deserve this catty tirade?
This is the annual Timbuktu Challenge where all sorts of teams make their way to Mali in aid of various causes, and a proper good laugh it was when I took part last year (though in a rather less exciting Vauxhall Corsa). There are always a few outlandish participants - we drove with a limo shipped from Vegas (suspension specially hitched up for the desert) and another team had a car powered by food production waste.
Diesel engines rely on compression ignition, but jet engines certainly have igniters (see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_engine#Ignition). But the article does indeed (now) say injectors.
According to the Skycar website, the ‘biofuel’ is ethanol supplied by Ethanol Ventures. ‘Using wheat surplus to the food market, ethanol can be produced and added in a 5% biofuel to fossil fuel mix’ although it’s unclear exactly what mix Skycar itself will use. 5% ethanol blend is what any old car will run on, and if you fill up in the UK, probably is.
Giles Cardozo is named as the Chief Pilot, second on the list of key people of Skycar’s website. He’s described as ‘The brainchild behind the Parajet Skycar. An incredibly talented engineer who invented and piloted one of two Para-motor aircraft that flew over Mt. Everest, smashing the existing world altitude record by more than 10,000 ft. Founder and MD of Parajet which is at the cutting edge of personal aircraft flight and he has participated on flying expeditions with Neil to the Himalaya, The Alps and Venezuela.’ Credit where it’s due.
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