From time to time we see a story about scientists trying to make a flying car, but we never seem to hear as much about flying bikes. Now why is that? Could it be because it is a frankly ludicrous idea which will never become reality? Ah, if you think like that then some Czechs could be about to give you a big surprise.
It is true that we have heard little about flying bikes since that big-headed alien and his little buddy peddled up into the sky in ET, although a Brit called John Carvers made the news with his contraption called the Flyke in 2009. However, work has gone into this area and a real flying bike was shown off in Prague recently.
A Dummy Rider
The Czech flying bike weighs 210 pounds and is remote-controlled. It is said to be able to hover off the ground for around 5 minutes. In the demonstration carried out recently in the Czech capital it flew round an exhibition hall with a dummy rider sitting on it.
So how does it work? Well, it has two propellers at the front, two at the back and one on either side of it. These propellers are battery powered and the idea is said to be perfect for brave commuters who want to avoid the traffic and who wouldn’t mind rubbing shoulders with bemused pigeons.
Milan Duchek is the technical director of Duratec Bicycles and he said that while the batteries only last for a few minutes worth of bike flying we can expect them to give a much better performance in the years to come. His firm worked with Technodat and Evektor to come up with the design.
