A well-known man was the first passenger in the Slovak flying car

The first passenger in the car – which takes around three minutes to turn into a plane – was Jean-Michel Jarre. The AirCar, a flying car developed in Slovakia, has reached another major milestone. For the first time, it took off with a passenger – and it was Jean-Michel Jarre, the French electronic music great.

The event comes as a major science festival is taking place in Bratislava in mid-May, with Jarre opening the festival and Bryan May also performing. The Stephen Hawking Medal will be awarded as part of the event, and several Nobel Prize-winning scientists will take part. This time the premiere flight took place at Pastejov airport and was piloted by AirCart designer Stefan Klein, who ended up taking two flights with the star guest, according to Slovakia’s Pravda.

I’ve written about the AirCar before, the vehicle received its airworthiness certificate in January 2022 and has since logged 130 flight hours and more than 520 take-offs.

The fate of the AirCar seems to be in the process of being sorted out, following the recent financial difficulties of the project. A few days ago, the design company KleinVision announced that it had sold the rights to use the flying car to the Chinese company Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology. The designer Stefan Klein also said that the AirCar will be produced in China.

The AirCar is powered by a BMW engine, uses ordinary petrol and takes just under two and a half minutes to turn into a plane. A pilot’s licence is required to operate it. The vehicle can take off and land on a runway similar to that used by small aircraft.

Source: auto.pravda.sk