If you are one of those who can't stand traffic, you might
want to save up for one of these: a hybrid five-seat car-plane.
The SkyCruiser is a concept VTOL (vertical takeoff and
landing) vehicle that can take off and land like a helicopter, yet fly
efficiently like an airplane.
The vehicle "can be used for personal and business
travel, delivery, air-taxi and emergency services," said Krossblade
Aerospace Systems, which designed the vehicle.
SkyCruiser can fly at speeds higher than 500 kph and can
handle short road trips.
Meanwhile, the company has come up with SkyProwler, a
drone/UAV, as a working prototype.
"The underlying principle of SkyCruiser and SkyProwler
is to combine a highly aerodynamic airplane for fast and efficient forward
flight with a multi-copter for hover and VTOL, and to switch between the two
configurations using the switchblade transformer mechanism," the company
said.
SkyCruiser may cost $300,000 and could be mass-produced as
early as 2018.
Optimized for flight
While SkyCruiser can be considered a flying car, it is
optimized for flight and "spends most of its time in the air and only some
driving on the ground."
It may not always be able to land right next to exactly
where passengers want to go, the company added.
The vehicle has a double electric pusher configuration for
redundancy and increased efficiency and hybrid power systems allows purely
electric VTOL and hover for a few minutes.
It can plug in to recharge its battery.
The vehicle has a full autopilot with override from a
licensed pilot inside the vehicle, or from remote pilot on the ground, in case
of emergency.
