personalaircraft
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Larry Page's third flying car company will sell its first craft in 2019
We've heard a bit here and there about Opener, one of the flying vehicle startups backed by Google's Larry Page. Opener specializes in vertical take off and landing (VTOL) vehicles, similar to helicopters and drones, and the company is counting on the idea that these vehicles will one day be inexpensive enough to be a common form of transportation, according to CNBC.
Opener is the latest startup to reveal plans for a personal aircraft
The race to build a "flying car" has just become more crowded. This week, the Canadian company Opener revealed its new vehicle, called BlackFly. The one-person aircraft can travel up to 25 miles at a speed of 62 miles per hour. Because the operations are a simple joystick, according to the release BlackFly shouldn't require a pilot's license, though operators will require training.
Icon A5 plane crash kills two, including its lead designer
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.
Your own personal VTOL aircraft
Devising yet another ingenious way for people to accidentally kill themselves (or as the British euphemistically call it "death by misadventure"-damn you, British, and your clever way with words!), Trek Aerospace is working on a line of personal Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, including the Dragonfly UMR-1, and our personal fave, the Springtail EFV-4A (pictured above). Let's just hope they can build one that goes more than 18 inches off the ground. [Thanks, aeo]
