Slovak-made flying car receives official certification of airworthiness

Slovakia’s Transport Authority has issued a certificate of airworthiness for flying car model AirCar, a first step towards commercial production of the invention.

“AirCar certification opens the door for mass production of very efficient flying cars,” according to Stefan Klein, founder and chief executive of KleinVision, a company that designed and manufactured the prototype of the dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle.

“It is an official and final confirmation of our ability to change mid-distance travel forever.”

AirCar completed its first intercity flight in June 2021.

The vehicle is powered by a 1.6-liter BMW engine and needs a runway only 300 meters long to take off. It has a flight speed of up to 170 kilometers per hour and a flying distance of 1,000 kilometers.

The process of transforming from car to plane takes less than three minutes.

Everything is automated, so a single-button command is all it takes to change it.

Before certification, the Slovak flying car had to complete 70 hours of flight testing, with more than 200 takeoffs and landings, KleinVision said.