Life is a heavenly road.
The dream of flying cars is no longer science fiction – they are here and now as private buyers and the military obsess over the hot product for ordinary people.
Known by their technical name eVTOLs (electric vehicle take-offs and landings), a new prototype model is taking the popular concept of future travel to higher expectations.
The BlackFly, a state-of-the-art flying device manufactured by Pivotal, has been delivered to five different owners on the East and West coasts, plus the Midwest. In addition, the United States Air Force received eight of the prototype models.
“When I left my yard, I felt an indescribable sense of awe,” Massachusetts owner Patrik M. boasted in a Pivotal release.
While those models were prototypes, Pivotal has already created a successor to the BlackFly, called the Helix, which can be yours for $190,000.
And what makes the nearly 350-pound craft—a Honda Civic weighs closer to 3,000 pounds—really special is that just about anyone can fly one thanks to its ultralight FAA classification.
“Operators of ultralight vehicles are not required to meet any aeronautical, age or experience requirements to operate those vehicles,” the agency’s code states.
In addition, the BlackFly is able to fly into the air from surfaces such as pavement, grass and dirt according to FlyingMag. A demonstration by the company also showed the eVTOL-less landing gear launched and landed on a beach.
Tim Lum, a 61-year-old retiree in rural Washington state, is also all in on the concept, which allows users to glide at relatively low altitudes and up to 55 knots — the equivalent of a highway speed of 63.3 miles per hour.
“It’s stunning, very dramatic,” he told New York Magazine. In the year he has owned his BlackFly, Lum has successfully completed 450 flights, usually in the scenic forests 40 miles around his home.
“I’ve set up four charging stations in my valley, so I can make five flights by lunch,” he told the Robb Report. “And once people in other parts of the area found out I was here, they invited me to fly over their land.”
For now, it’s likely that scenic empty spaces will be the primary home for eVTOL rather than the skies of the Big Apple or elsewhere. The FAA prohibits that “no person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town or settlement, or over any group of persons in the open air.”
Flights are also limited to daytime only.
In terms of cockpit view, you’re flying with two joysticks, an iPad loaded with flight data, plus a switch to activate an emergency parachute.
“There’s a lot of technology on the back end,” the company’s software developer Greg Kerr told the Robb Report.
“The aircraft is designed to operate in a simple, intuitive way, but it is a layered and sophisticated platform,” he added, noting that it was designed with a safety “to mitigate potential failures.”
#Flying #cars #straight #Jetsons #finally #reality #people
Image Source : nypost.com