PersonalAircraftVehicle

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  • Chris Velazco/Engadget

    Icon A5 plane crash kills two, including its lead designer

    by 
    Timothy J. Seppala
    Timothy J. Seppala
    05.10.2017

    A fatal crash has left the amphibious Icon A5 personal aircraft's fate mired in uncertainty. Lead engineer Jon Karkow and coworker Cagri Sever were killed in the accident outside of Icon's Vacaville, California training facility, AVweb reports. Karkow was piloting the aircraft at the time and the pair had been airborne for around 20 minutes.

  • NASA crowns winner in $250k "flying car" contest

    by 
    Conrad Quilty-Harper
    Conrad Quilty-Harper
    08.12.2007

    Flying cars come pretty high up the average gadget geek's wishlist, so it's pretty encouraging to see NASA funding a $250,000 contest that could eventually produce a pioneering vehicle that can fly and drive. Although none of the winners this time around can actually achieve the two feats, they all have features that tend towards the PAV (or Personal Aircraft Vehicle) area of the General Aviation spectrum. The winner was the Pipistrel Virus, a $70,000 aircraft that can do 50 MPG and take off on short runways, whilst having a top speed of 170 MPH. The industry still seems to have a while to go yet, seeing as NASA awarded a prize to the Cessna 172, which has been flying in one form or another for practically half a century.