Article Posted on : - Jan 15, 2009

Parajet SkyCar Prototype testing off road!

LONDON (BNS): The fantasy run of a group of British adventurers kicked off from London on Wednesday when they embarked on a journey to Timbuktu on the world’s first bio-fuel run flying car.

The 42-day-long adventure trip will see the group travelling through 3600 mile in their Parajet Skycar – an automobile with a fan and a wing. The starting point of the long sojourn was London's Knightsbridge. The beginning could not have been more adventurous with the crew hitting turbulence right at the start when authorities denied them permission to cross the English Channel as they did not have necessary clearance.

The leader of the tem is a 45-year-old pilot Neil Laughton who is flying the contraption designed by Giles Cardozo who is much younger at 29. The event has attracted a lot of public attention for two simple reasons – the London to Timbuktu route has been some sort of fantasy run, and the fact that it has to be completed in the world's first bio-fuelled flying car.

The team would both fly and drive on the journey. It would get airborne to clear the Straits of Gibraltar and then the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The vast stretches of the Sahara would also be covered through air to reach Timbuktu in Mali. The rest of the journey would be on road.

There was initial confusion about the flying certificate given to the Skycar team by the Britain's Civil Aviation Authority. The team claimed they have been cleared by the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA). But there seemed to be ambiguity on this aspect. BMAA chief was quoted in the British press as saying that they did not get the submission.

When on road, the Skycar can reach from zero to 100 km per hour in 4.5 seconds. In air, its cruise ceiling is 2 to 3000 feet.

The mission is also expected to promote use of bio-fuels in aviation. A number of experiments are taking place to see if bio-fuels can power jet engines. Air New Zealand had flown one of its jets partially on bio-fuel in the first ever successful experiment.

Aircraft manufacturers hope that the new fuel would enhance efficiency and address the environmental concerns.