Another flying car was successfully tested Enlarge

The PAL-V flying car made its first flight successfully.

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| Agence France-PressePublié April 3, 2012 | Updated April 3, 2012 at 10:16
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - A "flying car" with three wheels up to 180 km / h on land and in the air was tested for the first time successfully in the Netherlands, announced Tuesday its Dutch manufacturer.

"The first flight of the prototype PAL-V was successfully conducted on a Dutch military base last month," said Robert Dingemanse to AFP, the director of the company PAL-V, installed in Raamsdonksveer in eastern the country.

The successful test flight was confirmed to AFP by the Delft University and the National Aerospace Laboratory, who developed the device in collaboration with engineers from the company PAL-V.

The autonomy of the PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle), a two-seat gyroplane (machine rotor, similar to a helicopter), is 1200 kilometers on land and 500 km in the air.Its blades can be folded when the craft is on the ground.

The PAL-V, which can fly at an altitude of 1200 meters, should be marketed in 2014 for a price between 250,000 and 300,000 euros ($ 330,000 and $ 400,000), according to Robert Dingemanse.

"What also makes it unique is the fact that it meets government standards for both routes in the air and on the road," he says. "There is therefore no need for new infrastructure."

The PAL will not, however, to escape the gridlock: they must leap of 165 meters to take off, needs a runway to land 30 meters and can be controlled only from an airport or fieldAviation.


"Before the trip through the skies was based on public transportation," stated Jacco Hoekstra, Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University. "It will become much more personal."

Other companies have embarked on the development of flying cars, including the American Terrafugia. Moller International, also American, developing a personal aircraft for vertical takeoff and landing.