After Japan, Turkey’s first flying car prototype successfully hovered in trials in Istanbul, making it one of the very few nations to have attained the milestone.
The flying car briefly hovered in its maiden test flight and has been named “Cezeri”- after Ismail al Jazari, a renowned 12th-century Muslim engineer and polymath.
The Turkish prototype vehicle weighs around 230 kg and ascended to 10 meters in the air during trials, its manufacturer Baykar said in a statement this Tuesday. Selcuk Bayraktar, the chief technology officer, said, “We will make more advanced prototypes in the upcoming process, and perform flights with a human [on board].”
According to the proposed vehicle’s specifications, this Turkish “flying car” is expected to reach upto the height of 2,000 meters, attaining a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
However, Bayraktar also stated that an expected timeframe could see the launching of the commercial variant after all development and trials to be after 10-15 years. “After smart cars, the revolution in automotive technology will be in flying cars. So from this point of view, we are preparing for tomorrow’s races, rather than today’s,” he said.
Baykar is a renowned Turkish aerospace company established in 1984 specializing in the development of drones – including both armed and unarmed versions.
Recently, Japan recently conducted the country’s first manned public demonstration of a flying car. The vehicle, developed by Japan’s SkyDrive Inc., looks like a slick motorcycle with propellors, can fly for just five to 10 minutes so far.
SkyDrive’s chief, Tomohiro Fukuzawa, said he hopes “the flying car” can be made into a real-life product by 2023, but he recognized that making it safe was critical.
