Flying Cycle

, flying bicycles have come a long way; in particular, there are some very genuine Hollywood SFX-free ones in the pipeline. The Aeroflex hobbike has so far gone up to a top 30mph airspeed and a 15ft altitude, and now a Hungarian crew has designed a fully electrical aircraft that has recently completed its first human project.

Damped with a jersey car, the Flike has so far remained in the air for over a minute performing controllable testing, and with litres of polymers to supply the six rotor of the cycle, it has the capability to survive a 30-40 minutes ride. The Flike is the work of a group of aviation fans within Bay Zoltan Nonprofit, a state-owned research and development institution in Hungary.

This zero-emission, all-electric cycle was designed in just six month, and after nine month the developers were able to start their first human test mission.

Britisch innovators construct flying bicycles

Did you also want to cycle down the road, over your home and past the moon? Now, now that imagination can become real with the invention of the Paravelo flying cycle. Couple of aviation aficionados, John Foden, 37, and Yannick Read, 42, have developed a two-wheeled cycle that turns into an airplane and bears the name XploreAir Paravelo.

According to the UK founders, it is the world's first fully operational flying wheel. "Wright was a former mechanic, so there is a genuine link between biking and the birthright of flying by motor that is traced back in the Paravelo spirit," says the so-called founder John Foden. A flying cycle looks like a traditional cycle linked to a light weight follower that contains a huge ventilator, petrol for the machine motor and a folding leaf.

The cell as well as the cycle are made of aluminium in airplane quality. It can be separated from the towed vehicle for urban use, then docked to make a Para-Trike for take-off. For flying, cycle and trailers are connected together, the wings unfold and an electrical launcher fire the bio-powered 249cc engine.

Paravelo needs a long piece of open floor, free of obstacles for the start. As soon as it is in the sky, the creators of the flying bike say that it steers like a traditional fan-driven canopy. So, if you haven't done it before, it's not advisable to jump off the next rock in your new Paravelo.

Bicycles are small enough to be transported by means of local transportation, and the whole car can be parked in a car park or transported by a staircase and kept at home. He and Read have always wanted to build a flying bike since they were children. "He said, "We are based in Kingston-upon-Thames, on the edge of London, two minutes' walking distance from the place of birth of the Sopwith Aviation Co. - a UK airline that constructed planes, the Sopwith Camel included, for the Royal Air Force in World War I." He said.

Both Foden and Read are hoping that the $16,000 Paravelo will be attractive to inner-city aviation enthusiasts and believe it can also be useful as a "low-cost air surveillance aircraft for foresters and frontier police".