14 DAY TRIAL // So you thought you had everything you ever wanted. Wrong! Meet Pal-V, a hybrid tricycle and gyrocopter. It's similar to the Carver One, the tilting three wheeled vehicle already manufactured and distributed by Carver Europe in the Netherlands. Pal-V will combine the "tilting" technology used by Carver Europe with the easiest concept of flying, the gyrocopter.
After 6 years of concept work, PAL-V Europe BV is actually starting to build the first commercial prototype. They are actually trying to raise the necessary money to build, test and validate a prototype. Imagine you wake up and fly to work one day. Yes, fly. As soon as it's out on the market of course. Nothing will stop you, not even the law. Since 2004/2005 European and American flight regulations allow people to fly the PAL-V with a simple sports aviation license. It will land vertically and automatically. It will come equipped with a fuel-efficient powerplant that allows both driving and flying. That is not the big problem. What will the traffic look like? I only hope new traffic regulations will be invented. Or perhaps someone from Pal-V should talk to Luc Besson who produced The Fifth Element.
Here's how it will work. You'll have to find a long straight piece of road in order to hit the clouds. A tail pops out, rotors unfold and you take off climbing up to 4,000 feet at speeds of up to 200 km/h.
It will be available in 2 years, but my guts tell me we will not see this thing flying too soon. No word on the price yet. Anyway, if a future-of-tech story sounds too good to be true, it will probably become reality.