A white Maruti 800 parked amidst medium multi role combat aircraft contenders, the LCA, Su-30 Mki’s and a host of business and fighter jets on display at the ongoing Aero India 2011, is grabbing all the attention.
The car bearing the registration number KA-09-N-2920 is no ordinary one. It defies the very basics of physics as apart from cruising on the road it can also fly.
The flying car which could well be India’s answer to the US’s Transition Roadable Aircraft (TRA) is on a static display for the first time.
AK Vishwanath, 62, a former employee of Cadence Design Systems in USA and currently CEO of a Bangalore-based company, has dedicated the last 15-years of his life to develop this car.
Four technicians were working on his dream project that has a vertical lift and runs on petrol with very minimum modifications on its body, Vishwanath said.
The ‘Bangalorean’ as he is known in the Aero India circuit has tested the car in the wind tunnel and it performed well. He is planning to undertake the first flight of this car in the next few months.
The ‘Flying Car’ could not take wings in the current edition of the Aero India as it is yet to get Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCAs) approval to take to the skies. Vishwanath paid $275 per square metre to display his flying car on the tarmac of Air Force Station Yelahanka where Aero India 2011 is being held.
