It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Not what I had in mind exactly ... and where's my jetpack, by the way?

Flying Car Company Starts Taking Orders For Its Parajet SkyRunner

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If a flying car is something you’ve always wanted and you have enough cash to spare, you could possibly own your own flying car in the near future.

Even though the Parajet SkyRunner isn’t really for sale yet, the company that makes the flying car is ready to start taking orders to bring the prototype to the market, according to Bloomberg. Parajet International Ltd. began enticing customers at the Farnborough airshow in England earlier in the month with it’s $137,000 flying vehicle.

While the car isn’t exactly what you might expect when you think of a futuristic flying machine, the vehicle does operate as a standard off-terrain vehicle and flying machine. It looks more like an all-terrain vehicle that has morphed with a paraglider wing than it looks like a car with hovercraft capabilities.


The flying car that anyone can order is a third-generation vehicle, according to Newsmax. Its original predecessor flew and drove successfully from the U.K. to Africa in 2009. Testing in Nevada is currently underway for the most recent model of the flying car.

The SkyRunner flying car has the ability to reach 115 miles per hour on the ground and can fly for up to three hours. Flight time largely depends upon the size of the fuel tank, according to Managing Director Tom Prideaux-Brune.

“We have a lot of interest from the leisure sector, but we’re just evaluating potential uses,” Prideaux-Brune informed the media.

The flying car has a foot-launched powered paraglider that relies upon the use of a small engine and a propeller that is worn on a backpack upon takeoff. Winds as high as 15 miles per hour can be utilized when using the flying car. The pack weighs about 60 pounds.

According to the product website, “In the unlikely event of engine or wing failure, the SkyRunner simply floats softly to the ground on its paraglider, or a ballistic reserve chute can be deployed.”
Inventor Gilo Cardozo flew the first-generation flying car to Africa and said, “Flying over the desert in a flying car is absolutely surreal. It’s an extraordinary experience. In the right environment, when you’ve learnt to fly, it’s very safe.”

Bear Grylls, the celebrity adventurist, reportedly flew one of these flying cars over Mount Everest, according to Bloomberg.

If you want to fly with your friends in a SkyRunner, you will have to wait. The current flying car can only seat one passenger, but soon you may have luck with other companies working hard to bring flying cars to the main market. Terrafugia, a company out of Massachusetts, already sells it’s fixed-wing plane that doubles as a car. That flying car is called the Transition, and two people can conveniently enjoy the one-of-a-kind ride together.

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