VIDEO: Skycar Flying car takes high road to Timbuktu

cnn. ^

[JoeProBono]

From the noisy and lovable Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the time-traveling DeLorean in "Back to the Future," flying cars have been a fixture of movies and science fiction that never quite cut it in the real world -- until now.A flying car devised by a British inventor and a team of engineers took off from London on Wednesday on an epic journey to Timbuktu, Mali, in West Africa -- a trip they hope will prove the fantasy has become reality. The "Skycar" is a road-legal all-terrain buggy with a huge rear propeller and a fabric wing, the result of 18 months of design and research.

[JoeProBono]

A British adventurer plans to set off today in a home-made vehicle which can transform itself from a car into an aircraft in minutes - destination Timbuktu.

On the ground the Skycar runs on a biofuel-powered engine, and can accelerate from zero to 100kph in 4.5 seconds.

But with a powerful fan on the rear its take-off speed is 60kph, and once in the air it can fly at speeds of up to around 110kph, cruising at 2000 feet to 3000 feet with a paraglider-style canopy holding it aloft.

Inventor Giles Cardozo, 29, will leave the British capital for the 6000km trip through France, Spain and north Africa, across the Sahara to the fabled desert city of Timbuktu in Mali.Skycar Video

NOTE:

This is not the flying car previously posted:

[JoeProBono]

UPDATE:

Flying-car to Timbuktu expedition stalls
Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, January 15, 2009

A group of British adventurers set off from London to Timbuktu in a flying car Wednesday — but the project immediately hit turbulence, as they have not received permission to take to the skies here.

The Skycar team, who left London Wednesday morning, are planning to part-drive, part-fly the 6,000 kilometres to the Malian desert city in 42 days.

But their plan to take off across the English Channel between Britain and France was scuppered because they did not submit the relevant paperwork to authorities.

[cripplecreek]

The "Skycar" is a road-legal all-terrain buggy with a huge rear propeller and a fabric wing, the result of 18 months of design and research.

It actually sounds far more feasable than the previous flying car story.

[xcamel]

one really expensive paraplane

[martin_fierro]

[JoeProBono]

[martin_fierro]

Most people I see on the road have a hard enough time driving safely in two dimensions, let alone three.

[xcamel]

Ya think?

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

Three seconds - 350 yards

[org.whodat]

I don't think he's the inventor by a long shot, these have been around for years.

[org.whodat]

My neighbor had one of those POS about five years ago, he called his a para-sail. I wanted to shoot him I don't know how many times. I refrained myself and bitched at the country commissioners. Damn thing made more racket than the law should allow.

[JoeProBono]

[SunkenCiv]

At least he’s wasting his money on this, instead of on electing Obama.

[Don W]

I think these folks might have a bit of a bone to pick with the current name of the vehicle in question.

Paul Moller has been pushing this thing for over 20 years, and still manages to get investors.

[DoughtyOne]

...and how, I just don’t know. LOL