Developing User-Friendly Flying Cars – Klein Vision’s Anton Zajac on The AirCar’s Landmark Flight

Klein Vision is a Slovakian company that has developed AirCar, a flying car that has just completed the first ever inter-city flight between two international airports. Anton Zajac, is the co-founder of Klein Vision. He’s been talking to Auto Futures about the landmark flight and the commercial viability of flying cars.

The goal of Klein Vision’s co-founder and CEO, Professor Stefan Klein, was to create a dual-mode car-aircraft transportation vehicle. Klein spent the last two decades turning this dream into reality.

“Professor Klein’s grandfather and father were developing flying prototypes before Professor Klein was born. He inherited the dream of creating a flying car and made it reality,” says Zajac.

Klein and entrepreneur Zajac started Klein Vision in 2017.

“In a car mode the vehicle is a fully fledged sports car and after transformation it converts into a fully fledged fast small aircraft. AirCar is the fifth prototype developed by Klein Vision team, its IP is patent protected and it completed 42 test flight hours, 145 landings and take-offs”, he explains.

Under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority, the AirCar Prototype 1 has completed over 40 hours of test flights, including steep 45 degree turns and stability and manoeuvrability testing. It has flown at 8200 ft and reached a maximum cruising speed of 190km/h.

Zajac explained the key benefits of travelling in an AirCar as opposed to a small plane.

“One starts the trip with an AirCar in a standard size garage. (the size of AirCar is that of Mercedes S-class). The take-off requires 380m of grass or an airfield. It only take 2+ minutes to convert the AirCar into the aircraft mode. After landing. the pilot continues on a road.”

“AirCar is a multipurpose, dual-mode vehicle and that is its main advantage over an aircraft. You no longer need a taxi to take you to the airport. You waste no time pulling your aircraft from the hangar and back,” he adds.

“It is very safe. In the aircraft mode its safety is the same as the safety of a small aircraft. The test program for AirCar has been approved by CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and both the design and construction have been completed using state-of-the-art scientific methods.”

The AirCar Prototype 2, the pre-production model, will be equipped with a 300HP engine. It’s expected to have a cruise speed of 300km/h (162kt) and range of 1000km (621mi).

No Longer Just a Proof of Concept

The successful completion of the 35 minute flight, between the Slovakian city of Nitra to the international airport in the capital Bratislava, fulfils a key development milestone for Klein Vision. 

After landing, at a click of a button, the aircraft transformed into a sports car in under three minutes. It was then driven by its inventor, Professor Stefan Klein and Zajac to downtown Bratislava, cutting the typical travel time by a factor of two.

“This was not only our major milestone, it was a milestone in the history of aeronautics. This flight happened in front of the media cameras. From a grass-surface  takeoff at one international airport, to a concrete-landing at a different international airport. Then, at a push of a button the aircraft transformed into a fully fledged sports car and was driven to the downtown Bratislava using road infrastructure,” explains Zajac.

“This flight starts a new era of dual transportation vehicles. It opens a new category of transportation and returns the freedom originally attributed to cars back to the individual.” said Professor Klein after exiting the AirCar cockpit in Bratislava.

“AirCar is no longer just a proof of concept; flying at 8,200ft at a speed of 100kt, it has turned science fiction into a reality,” he adds.

So what does flying in an AirCar feel like? It’s like flying a Cessna or Piper, he says.

“The key feature of a good aircraft for general aviation is positive static and dynamic stability. The stability means that an aircraft tends to correct for conditions acting on it. For example a flight control input or a turbulence. AirCar has a very good static and dynamic stability. This has been achieved by a very sophisticated and patent protected transformation between the dual modes. In a mode of an aircraft, the length of the vehicle is longer than it is in the mode of a car,” explains Zajac.

“Flying cars will not solve the traffic problems, however, they will become an integral part of the transport system.”

According to Morgan Stanley, the flying car market will reach the size of 850B USD by 2030. Zajac says Klein Vision want a double digit share.

The company is now looking at other versions of AirCar including a 4-seat version, a version with a certified aircraft engine, a twin-engine version and an amphibian version.

We concluded our interview with Zajac by asking him what urban mobility will look like by the year 2030.

“Based on the research of the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC, the traffic jams will never go away. They will get worse. Flying cars will not solve the traffic problems, however, they will become an integral part of the transport system. A special-purpose alternative. There will always be some areas of our planet without very expensive road infrastructure. There are islands that can effectively be connected by flying cars (e.g. Hawaiian Islands),” he concludes.