The AVE Mizar, put together from Ford and Cessna, was one of the great promises of the 1970s, unfortunately it crashed during a fatal test flight and built its builder and business partner. Cars flying in the sky have not filled the sky since, yet.
Although there have been similar attempts in the past, the AVE Mizar, introduced in 1973, was the first serious serious vehicle attempt to create a widespread promising aircraft with operational functionality. We are ten years old at the time after the first series of futuristic utopias of the Jetson family, and the world, but next to them, America has almost vanished from the desire for flying cars. The idea that popped out of Henry Smolinski’s head foretold the advent of the world depicted in the cartoon series: a unique, family-friendly means of transportation on the road and in the air that is in dire need of traffic jams, easier to get to work, and a pleasant pleasant will be the motorized American dream.
Born in Ohio, Smolinski of Polish descent earned a diploma in aeronautical engineering from the Northrop Institute of Technology, and his idea was slapped: he took two separately manufactured series-produced vehicles and put them together as two more or less fitting lego pieces.
Smolinski’s Los Angeles-based company Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) aimed to produce a car dubbed Mizar, using the 1971 Ford Pinto small passenger car and Cessna’s twin-engine, pull-and-push propeller, the 337 Skymaster. based on. The latter excavated part of his nose and torso, and fixed the Pinto to the liberated place to obtain the flying structure, which had a slightly mule but no doubt functional effect.
The Mizar took two years to create, two copies were completed and three other prototypes were under assembly. As a result of the four-seater, one pilot and three passengers could fit in the 8.5-meter-long, 11.6-meter-long aircraft, slightly heavier than the Cessna 337, which could in principle have risen to an altitude of 3,600 meters. Because the car also used the car’s engine to take off, a shorter runway was enough to ascend into the air. During the flight, the car’s engine was then stopped by the pilot, and only the 210-horsepower aircraft engine propelled the Mizar.
After a series of test flights, the first public demonstration took place on May 8, 1973, in the presence of journalists, followed by airport test rolls and then certification test flights by the aviation authorities. It was planned that in 1974 orders would have been started as early as 1974, at a price between $ 18,300 and $ 29,000. The video below was made to convince hopeful buyers with the slogan “Mizar. The means of transport of the future is already here. ”
The first ominous incident occurred on August 26, 1973: test pilot Charles “Red” Janisse noticed in flight that the base of the right wing support, i.e. the part of the stiffener that attached to the car chassis, was broken shortly after takeoff. . As any maneuver threatened to break off the wing immediately, the pilot laid the plane straight on an bean field stretching in front of him.
After a successful forced landing, Janisse simply drove the winged car back to the airport. Two weeks later, another test flight followed, which also sealed the fate of Mizar. This time Smolinski himself was driving the plane, and the same mistake happened: the support of the right wing came off the car. Smolinski tried to turn with the faulty Mizar, and the wing could not bear the increased structural load and collapsed.
The car-flying hybrid slammed into the ground and exploded, Smolinski and his business partner Harold Blake were found dead in the wreckage. During the investigation into the fatal accident, the traffic safety authority found that the design was caused in part by design deficiencies, in part by inadequate components and in part by improper welding. According to 2012’s History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors, the Mizar was doomed to fail in the first place: although it was only slightly heavier than the Cessna it was made of, it was powered by one less engine.
The aerodynamics of the Pinto also lagged far behind the streamlined fuselage of the Cessna, and the wheels of the car individually did a lot of damage to the Mizar’s air resistance. So the history of AVE Mizar is over at this point, and it seems we have to wait a few more years for the spread of flying cars.
Recent article
Electric airplane News & Articles
The Hungarian solar-powered airplane plan has hit the world press
Electric airplane News & Articles
NASA’s first electric aircraft to take off soon
Drones News & Articles
An Australian drone can plant 40,000 trees in a day
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Airbus and ITA Airways jointly develop Italian urban air transport
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Airbus and ITA Airways jointly develop Italian urban air transport
Air taxi News & Articles
The first air taxi airport opens in Britain
Electric airplane News & Articles
Slovenian Pipistrel becomes part of Textron’s electric aviation business
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Another aircraft: the air yacht
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Testing Volocopter’s eVTOL
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
A solar-powered device on Mars could make rocket fuel from waste water
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Suzuki promises to launch flying taxis by 2025
Drones News & Articles
Amazon drone delivery is far from taking off
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
CycloTech and Yamato reveal innovative cargo eVTOLconcept with CycloRotors
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Receives Pre-Order for 100 Units of EH216 AAVs from Indonesian Aviation Company Prestige Aviation
Drones News & Articles
A Hungarian company is developing an agricultural drone with a French partner
Additional aircraft News & Articles
A futuristic, electric rival to the rocket backpack is already in operation
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
FedEx puts drones to work
Additional aircraft News & Articles
British paramedics to start testing rocket backpack rescue in the summer
Air taxi News & Articles
Air Greenland acquires VX4 Air Greenlands from
Air taxi News & Articles
Japanese flying taxis now almost have a timetable
Flying Cars News & Articles
French startup to launch hydrogen-powered flying race car
Drones News & Articles
The silent spy drone designed for the Pentagon is ready
Flying Cars News & Articles
Bruno Senna joins Airspeeder as pilot and ambassador
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Receives Pre-order for 60 Units of Passenger-grade AAVs from AEROTREE, Malaysia’s Leading Aviation Company, under Strategic Partnership
Additional aircraft News & Articles
NASA may launch inflatable stingray drones to Venus
Drones News & Articles
The Gambit combat drone opens a new era in air warfare
Drones News & Articles
Hydraulic drone that will have a much longer range than its electric counterpart
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Swiss buys solar-powered sustainable kerosene
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Minor accident at Joby Aviation
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Airbus tests hydrogen propulsion on its A380 prototype
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
CAAC Formally Adopts Special Conditions for EH216-S AAV Type Certification
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
A Chinese company has shown how their eVTOL can cope with the most critical part of flying
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
World’s first electric air taxis to be launched in Japan
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Hungarian engineers develop unique parallel hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion system
Air taxi News & Articles
Startup Natilus is set to revolutionise air freight transport
Drones News & Articles
Drones go on duty at the giant Singapore seaport
News & Articles Points of interest
Hydrogen-powered, hypersonic aircraft
Flying Cars News & Articles
Why don’t we use flying cars ?
Additional aircraft News & Articles
MIT’s miniature robots fly using artificial muscles
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
eVTOLs could revolutionise air rescue
More articles you may be interested in...
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Aeroelastically tailored wings
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Solar powered airplane
Air taxi News & Articles
Urban aviation on the doorstep
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
World’s first electric air taxis to be launched in Japan
Air taxi News & Articles
An air taxi arrives in Paris
Flying Cars News & Articles
The history of flying cars
Air taxi News & Articles
Air taxi in New Zealand
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Hydrogen-powered Airbus aircraft
Flying Cars News & Articles
Airspeeder flying racing car
Flying Cars News & Articles
Opener’s flying car
Electric airplane News & Articles
The Alice electric plane needs to be modified
Electric airplane News & Articles
VoltAero is a French aircraft factory
Drones News & Articles
Mysterious flying vehicles chased the destroyers of the USA
Flying Cars News & Articles
The electric motor of the Rolls-Royce flying car is also being developed in Hungary
Flying Cars News & Articles
Even the U.S. Air Force is helping to develop a flying car
News & Articles Points of interest
Maybe you can build a warp drive
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Testing Volocopter’s eVTOL
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Long-Range VT-30 AAV Makes Global Debut Before Zhuhai Airshow
Electric airplane News & Articles
The advent of electrified aircraft is no longer science fiction
Drones News & Articles
Airports are protected from drones by artificial intelligence
Flying Cars News & Articles
Cyclocar, the Russian military passenger aircraft
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
China is serious ….
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Hydrogen, hybrid propulsion and biofuels: greening the future of aviation
Drones News & Articles
The weapon of the 21st century is the military drone
Air taxi News & Articles
NASA tests air taxi
Drones News & Articles
Drones in the fight against the Covid-19 virus
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Nuclear waste battery to last hundreds of years
Drones News & Articles
Skydio is a drone manufacturer
Flying Cars News & Articles
How much will flying cars cost ?
Air taxi News & Articles
Flying cars could revolutionise urban transport.