[asian_XL]

PAL-V the Flying Trike maiden flight - YouTube

The Pal-V announces "sports-car" sensations (0 to 100kph in 8 seconds) on the road and extreme maneuverability in flight, the range goes from 1,200km on the road up to 350/500km in flight for a maximum speed of 180kph.

http://www.n-tv.de/img/59/5933796/O_1000_680_680_PalV02041202.jpg

[RabidRat]

That's sick. 500km.. that's pretty good, I guess you could fly to Victoria or Whistler on a whim.

[mmmk]

so sick! i wonder what else is in store for our futures!

[124Y]

http://i43.tinypic.com/oh5xcz.jpg

[PreludeSRV]

wont happen. infrustruture is not there for machines like this. Can you imagine the accident rates if people do not learn the proper aviation codes and rules?! Just picture Richmond with a dozen of these. 911 SH!T waiting to happen.

[RabidRat]

^ I'm going to guess you'd need a license to fly one of these and they'd be regulated the same way as they would any other plane.

[asian_XL]

I assume you need a helicopter license, which is 2x harder and 2x more expensive than a pilot lesson.

[Manic!]

That's pretty sweet. There's a guy in town who helicopters to work every day(Nanaimo to somewhere on the Fraser river. Lives on a lake and his helicopter has pontoons.

There's also this flying car that retails for 280k:

Next Generation Transition(R) Unveiled - YouTube
Terrafugia - Flying Car - YouTube

[ae101]

i saw this on the news last night & yes u need a pilot license (those small plane license will do), also u need to have at least been flying for more then 2 years to get one of these

[dangonay]

I assume you need a helicopter license, which is 2x harder and 2x more expensive than a pilot lesson.
A helicopter license is a lot more than 2X the money and 2X the difficulty of a regular pilots license.

However, this is not a helicoptor - it's a gyrocopter or gyroplane. If you have a pilot license already, it's easy to get a rating to fly a gyrocopter.

And since it's a gyro, you need a runway and space to land/take off. It's not capable of VTOL or even hovering so it's nowhere near as useful as a true helicopter is.