PAL-V
The PAL-V Liberty is officially the world’s first flying car to be certified street legal in Europe.
To that, all I can say is, about fricking time.
We’ve been told for decades and decades now that in the future we would all be driving flying cars. Seriously, for about as long as people have been able to put ink to paper we’ve been promised flying cars were coming.
Heck, we were told we would have flying cars by the year 2015 as recently as the film Back to the Future: Part II.
Well, finally the PAL-V Liberty has passed the European road admission tests and is now allowed on the streets with an official license plate.
“For me, the trick in successfully making flying car is to ensure that the design complies with both air and road regulations,” explained Mike Stekelenburg, CTO of PAL-V. “I feel the energy and motivation in our team to push hard for the last few milestones and get the Liberty certified for flying too.”
I knew there was a catch. We can drive the two-seater, three-wheeled, 100 hp PAL-V Liberty on European roads, but we can’t just take off when we get stuck in a traffic jam and fly past it.
Ah, it also requires about 1,000 of runway to takeoff even though it performs similarly to a gyrocopter. So much for just hopping over snarled traffic.
Let’s check out some specs on this bad boy.
• Top speed of 100 mph on the road
• 0-62 mph in less than nine seconds on the ground
• Top speed of 112 mph in the air
• Can reach 11,480 feet in altitude
• 26.4 gallon fuel tank
• Range of 817 miles on the ground
• Range of 310 miles in the air (or 4.3 hours)
• Weight: 1,455 pounds
• Cost: $599,000
PAL-V is also planning on producing a Liberty Sport version which will only run $399,000.
“When I fired-up the PAL-V for the first time I got goosebumps!” said PAL-V test driver Hans Joore. “All the effort that we put into it came together at that crucial moment. Hearing the vehicle come to life was just magnificent and driving it was great. It’s very smooth and responsive to the steering and with a weight of just 660 kg it accelerates really well. The overall experience is like a sportscar. It feels sensational.”
Oh, and you’ll also be required to not only have a driver’s license, but a pilot’s license as well.
It’s always something.