https://www.focus.pl/artykul/pal-v-moze-jezdzic-i-latac-supersamochod-wyjedzie-na-drogi-w-2021
Have you ever watched a futuristic movie with flying vehicles and wondered when will come the time you will see one in reality?
Apparently, it will be no longer than in one year time when such a car may be spotted. Pioneer Personal Air Landing Vehicle has been built for several years and finally it has been shown in USA on 3 December 2019.
The idea originated from Co-Founder John Bakker. He started flying in 1999 and each day he became frustrated that he couldn’t fly from the location that is convenient and land where he wanted. The team tested different aviation platform and chose the best option, which was a gyroscope. But there were challenges to build such a car. It had to have 3 wheels, as it helps in landing. The second thing was that the car had to have a high center of gravity so it could be stable in the air, but while driving it could lead the car to tip while cornering. The second challenge was the biggest problem for all flying car designers. In 2005 a Dutch company, Carver One, came with a solution of tilting system which could counter the high centre of gravity of an aircraft. First sketches were made and PAL-V was founded in 2008. In next years many prototypes were built and tested. And at the end of December 2019 they presented the final version.
The car has a futuristic design, with foldable propellers. Because of the fact that the car transforms into a gyroplane, it is not big inside and there is place for only two people.
https://motohigh.pl/2019/04/11/pierwsze-latajace-samochody-weszly-do-sprzedazy/flying-car-pal-v-liberty-pioneer-27/
The vehicle is said to have special technical possibilities. It has 3 wheels, in drive mode it can reach the maximum velocity of 160 km/h and needs less than 9 seconds to speed up to 100 km/h.
When it comes to the flight mode, the car transforms itself into gyroplane in about 10 minutes. It’s maximum speed is 180 km/h and can fly on maximum height of 3500m. It’s landing roll distance is 30 meters. To fly in the air it needs 165 meter tarmac, and only 30 meters to land.
For pleasure of driving or flying such a car a person must pay 599000$ (about 2,3 mln zl) and must have a driving and flying license. For now there are 70 orders and in 2021 cars will be delivered.
PAL-V has already planned a production of cheaper model (PAL-V Liberty Sport) which is estimated to cost 335000$ (about 1,3 mln zl)
Now the cars are really expensive, but maybe one day they will become affordable and then rarely will we see “normal” cars on the roads. As you see, the fiction is now becoming a reality.
Author: Karolina Rudko
References:
https://www.pal-v.com/en/explore-pal-v
https://www.pal-v.com/en/the-pal-v-story
https://www.focus.pl/artykul/pal-v-moze-jezdzic-i-latac-supersamochod-wyjedzie-na-drogi-w-2021
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0ODTVG-5a7u0df0E6lLy0A
If those cars become more affordable they can change lifes of so many people that are stuck in traffic every day.
It would be a great solution to the traffic issue but on the other hand we will need to develop new ways of regulating air traffic if cars like this will become a mass.
The future is officially here.. World’s first flying car racing league has been already founded too, so I think regular flying cars as a day-to-day means of transportation are gonna be mainstream soon enough!
This car is a good way out for traffic problems.
Really great idea (but truly costly one), this innovation can disturb and move the air traffic to another level by also enabling to reduce road congestion.
This is a great idea, which could very positively improve lives of everybody, but I think that we still have a very long way ahead of ourselves, before these means of transport will be able to be used by everybody.