The Parajet SkyCar is a flying car, now in production, developed by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 paramotor

Paramotor

Paramotor is a generic name for the propulsive portion of a powered paraglider . It consists of a frame that combines the motor, propeller, harness and cage...

 manufacturer Parajet. It utilises a paramotor and a ParaWing (a parafoil

Parafoil

A parafoil is a nonrigid airfoil with an aerodynamic cell structure which is inflated by the wind. Ram-air inflation forces the parafoil into a classic wing cross-section. Parafoils are most commonly constructed out of ripstop nylon....

) attached to a road worthy vehicle

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

 to achieve sustained level flight. Should the engine fail, the vehicle can glide back to the ground. In the event of catastrophic wing failure, car connection system failure or mid-air collision, an emergency ballistic reserve parachute would be deployed. It requires three minutes to convert it from a car to an aircraft. The prototype model runs on biodiesel

Biodiesel

Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....

 and is fully road-legal.

Skycar Expedition 2009

An expedition team led by Neil Laughton set out on 15 January 2009 to fly and drive the SkyCar from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

. After the Civil Aviation Authority failed to grant permits in time due to confusion over how to categorise the SkyCar, the team decided to start flying the SkyCar from northern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, however this was also not possible without permission from the CAA and the skycar was driven to southern Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. After a couple of embarrassing false starts Neil Laughton managed to fly across the Straits of Gibraltar damaging the car on landing in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. After repairs the car was driven to Mauritania

Mauritania

Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

 where the team made a couple of short flights. Although the car was designed for two people it never flew successfully with more than a driver / pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

. The flying portion of the expedition eventually ended when inventor Gilo Cardozo crashed into a tree in the sparsely vegetated desert while attempting to take-off for a third flight. The team deemed the expedition successfully completed on 25 February 2009 despite flying only a tiny fraction of the 9000 km and returned the Skycar to Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Parajet are taking deposits for the public to purchase the production version of the vehicle for £50,000 each. Customers are able to order and reserve one of the first 50 SkyCars to leave the production line, planned for late 2010.

Flight Mode Specifications

Car Mode Specifications

• Chassis
  Chassis
  A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
  
  : Tubular Space Frame
• Suspension
  Suspension
  Suspension may refer to:In science and engineering:*Suspension , in mathematics*Suspension , in mathematics*Suspension , mixture of two chemicals with the property that one does not rapidly settle out...
  
  : Independent Double Wishbone
  Double wishbone suspension
  In automobiles, a double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design using two wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorber and coil spring mount to the wishbones to control...
  
  
• Seats: 2 FIA Approved Race Seat
• 0-62 mph (0–100 km/h): 4.2 seconds
• Top Speed: 140 mph
• Gearbox: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
• Fuel Tank: 35 litres
• Range: 400 miles (640 km)