A flying car completed a 35-minute flight before driving back home

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Inter-city flights are nothing new, with hundreds from every major airport daily. One flight from one of Slovakia’s international airports this week was anything but pedestrian, with the first inter-city flight performed by a flying car.

Yes, a flying car. Let that sink in for a minute. The flying car future we’ve been promised by sci-fi has almost reached us, thanks to Klein Vision and its AirCar.

The dual-mode car flew for 35 minutes on Monday 28 June, between the international airport in Nitra to the international airport in Bratislava, which was the 142nd successful landing of the AirCar. A driver then drove the car back to the shop.

Check out the majestic machine in flight in the video below. Part supercar, part plane, the AirCar reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons when wings would pop out of boring-looking cars and their driver would fly off to vanquish evildoers.

It’s clear that the inventor, Professor Stefan Klein also grew up watching the same cartoons because the automatic folding mechanism that stows the wings on landing is a slower version of those in my childhood. Sure, it’s not quite the hovering future that Blade Runner or The Fifth Element had us salivating for, but it’s still pretty damn cool.

Currently, the flying car is still in development, with the Civil Aviation Authority keeping a close watch on its progress. It’s done over 40 hours of flight, some of which was up at 8,200 ft, and has a maximum cruise speed of 190 km/h. The production model will increase that speed with a variable propeller and nearly twice the horsepower in the engine to an estimated 300 km/h speed.

I can only imagine that the price tag for the AirCar will be “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” Still, it’s exciting to see progress in a field that has long been firmly in the realm of science fiction, not science fact.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.