News

The makers of a flying car are planning to cross the English Channel in their innovative Parajet Skycar.
 

It is flown as a powered parachute under which is a small two-seat, dune-buggy-style off-road car with a powered fan on the back.

After landing, the pilot can simply pack up the chute and drive away minutes later. It has a lightweight design, advanced aerodynamics and a Yamaha motorcycle engine.

The company claim it is easy to fly, impossible to stall, and features an emergency ballistic parachute system.

The aircraft can launch in less than 700 feet, fly at 70 mph, and has a range of about 200 miles.

In "road mode" it can travel 250 miles at speeds over 100 mph. The company plans to prove the Skycar's capability by travelling from London, above the English Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar, and across the Sahara Desert to Timbuktu, a journey of almost 4,000 miles, in January 2009.

The Skycar "will be the first high-performance, road-legal, bio-fuelled flying car capable of providing sports and rally car performance on or off the road and light-aircraft performance after just a few minutes of wing preparation," says the company. They are already working on a "next-generation road sport model" that could be available by 2010. No word yet on what the vehicle will sell for.