A flying car crashed on Friday morning near an elementary school in Vernon, British Columbia . The air-car clipped a fence, hit a tree, and crashed close to school property just before 9 am local time.
The experimental flying car is made by a Florida company and is a combination of a plane engine, propeller, and parasail, all attached to a dune buggy.
Gord Molendyk, spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stated that the contraption likely took off from the airport in Vernon. Molendyk added :
“It looked like it was on its approach. There was motor sound and people looked up and it got into trouble and came through the fence and into the trees here.”
The crashed flying car’s pilot and passenger had to be pulled from the tree. They suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital and released. While children from the school were preparing for a track and field day at the time of the crash, no one on the ground was injured.
Later on, pilot Ray Siebring explained the flying car’s crash, saying:
“It seemed there was an anomaly on our approach to landing … It was just a sharp left turn that turned into a spiral, so the spiral took at least three rotations.”
Despite the flying car’s mishap, Siebring defended the Maverick’s safety record. He explained, “This is an aircraft that has been demonstrated and is airworthy so we passed all our aircraft certifications. The vehicle uses a parasail for take-off and flight. It requires a 100-meter (about 328-foot) runway to take off and land.
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) issued a statement confirming the flying car was “an American corporately registered I-Tech Maverick SP Powered Parachute.” While it certainly doesn’t look like the car of the future, the Maverick is the fifth-ever flying car.
The flying car that crashed on Friday was purchased for a minimum price of $94,000, according to the manufacturer’s website.
[Image via Tory Townsend ]
