AirCar: Above the Clouds

People have been dreaming of flying cars for what feels like an eternity, but nothing has ever really come of it. Countless companies are experimenting with all kinds of aerial vehicles these days, but none of them look very much like cars. With one exception: the AirCar by Štefan Klein.

  • Text
    David Staretz
  • Photos
    Andreas Riedmann & David Staretz

The speedometer shows 110 km/h, the sleek car, a two-seater convertible, hums along quietly. But something isn’t right. The chassis feels strangely sluggish and the wheels don’t seem to stick quite right to the road. Maybe things will get better at higher speeds? Accelerate to 120, 130 . . . phenomenal! The nose begins to lift, the front wheels come off the ground, you pull the steering wheel a few inches toward you, hold it steady, and see only sky through the windshield. Sky! The car is flying! It flies over roads, rivers and railway tracks, climbs up in an elegant left turn and approaches the clouds.

1/2

Two and a half meters per second, a fabulous figure. The air today is cool and dense, which helps the engine, and the thermals provide some extra lift. Cruising altitude: four hundred meters. The 1,600-cc motorcycle engine, a reliable six-cylinder unit from BMW, purrs gently, good for a relaxed 160 hp.

The aircraft, a prototype by the name of AirCar, is helping to make a dream come true. The dream of flying cars, probably as old as the car itself. In America, countless small companies have dedicated their time and energy to this subject for decades. We count thirty-six start-ups alone, which can be separated into classic runway starters and VTOL aircraft.

Klein’s prototype, resting here in the hangar of the airfield in Nitra in western Slovakia, has the distinction of really looking like a supercar.

That stands for vertical takeoff and landing and sounds practical, but they are noisy and kick up a lot of dust. There are wheeled gyrocopters, which look a lot like small helicopters; modular concepts in which a passenger cabin is picked up by roaming flight modules; all-terrain buggies suspended from paragliders. Ideally, the future of flight is electric. But ninety percent of these inventions look more like flying machines instead of cars

The concept behind the folding wings is captivating to see. The transformation takes around two and a half minutes.

Štefan Klein from Slovakia takes a different approach. Already thirty years ago, he wrote his engineering thesis on the subject of flying cars. He was involved in the AeroCar project, a serious venture, but left after a difference of opinion to develop the AirCar with his own company, KleinVision. Since 1994 he has also headed the Studio of Transport Design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, the alma mater, among others, of current VW design chief Jozef Kabaň (formerly of Bugatti, Audi, Škoda, BMW and Rolls-Royce).

Klein’s prototype, resting here in the hangar of the airfield in Nitra in western Slovakia, has the distinction of (…)

→ Read the full story on the AirCar in ramp #59 "Tomorrow is yesterday".

David Staretz

David Staretz

Freelance Author
David Staretz, born 1956 in Horn. Since 1976 editor, then chief editor of Autorevue. Since 2000 freelance author: car tests for various magazines, writes and photographs travel reports and artist portraits. In his gallery, Kontor Staretz, he builds kinetic objects and puts them on display to amuse passers-by. In 2004, the book Lenk mich doch! Geschichten rund ums Auto was published by Deuticke.
ramp #59 Morgen ist gestern ramp #59 Morgen ist gestern ramp #59 Morgen ist gestern
ramp #59 Morgen ist gestern

ramp #59 Morgen ist gestern

Morgen ist gestern. So hieß die erste Episode der Serie »Raumschiff Enterprise«, die vor 50 Jahren in den deutschen Wohnzimmern flimmerte. Alles drehte sich um Zeitreisen und Zeitsprünge – unsere aktuelle Position im Zeit-Kontinuum.

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