Flying Car to Cross Europe, Africa

In only 18 months Giles Cardozo has managed to do something many of us have been dreaming of since we were small children; he’s built a fully functional flying car. His Parajet Skycar is world’s first road legal biofuelled flying car, to boot. The car runs off a biofuel-powered engine capable of taking it from 0-100km/h (60mph) in 4.5 seconds with a top speed of 180 km/h (108mph). Rear-wheel drive and independent four-wheel suspension make it suitable for tough terrain. A fan mounted on the rear of the car propels it to the take-off speed of 60 km/h (36mph) and the Skycar can reach 110 km/h (66mph) once airborne. The Skycar can change from ground to flying mode in just three minutes, can reach altitudes of up to 15,000 feet, and has a normal cruising height of 2,000-3,000 feet. It looks something like a dune buggy with a fan motor and paragliding wing attached.

But that’s where this story begins. For it’s first major outing, a small team plan to take the Skycar on a 6,000km (3,600-mile) from London to France, Spain, to Morocco, ending their destination in Mali, West Africa. The plan is to drive the Skycar where roads are suitable and to fly over the Straits of Gibraltar, the Atlas Mountains and other harsh terrain like the Sahara desert. A supporting group will follow the car from the ground in all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes.