The Aeromobil Flying Car Is Finally Coming

Štefan Klein, a Slovakian designer with a resume touting stops at BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen, has spent the better part of 20 years working on the Aeromobil. In that time, he's gone through a few different iterations of it, and for the past year he's been testing—driving, flying, and most importantly, not dying—a version that's pretty close to the finished product.

According to Štefan, the final version is ready to rock, and he's officially taking the wrapper off later this month in Vienna.

Obviously the biggest question is: does it fly? Well, yes, actually. Whether it's ready to replace your weekend Cessna is still unknown, but if you want something that drives down the road and flies, this absolutely fits the bill.

It's powered by a 100 hp Rotax 912 engine that's used in all sorts of experimental and very small aircrafts. That means it can hit 100 mph on the ground, or 124 mph in the air—where it can stay, provided you keep it above 40 mph.

The frame is steel, but pretty much everything else is carbon fiber, which results in a total weight (without fuel or passengers) of under 1,000 pounds.

With the wings fully extended, it'll take flight at 90 mph, but for the most part you'll fly it like you drive it, with a very car-like layout inside the cockpit.

Ultimately, what separates the Aeromobile from most other flying car concepts is that it's not fancy. The company didn't set wild goals with regard to efficiency or performance, instead opting for the ironically well-grounded aim of building a light aircraft that can be driven on the street.

click to play video

Say what you will about flying cars, but unlike 99 percent of them, this one actually flies, and as you can see from the video, is definitely not made entirely of vapor.


Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor, and can be found on Twitter. While he's glad to see this make it past the concept phase and hopes it gets produced, he's not sure he'd fly in one.