NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE {T} he past 13 months of my life have been consumed with studying. Weather theory, flight characteristics, airspace restrictions, traffic-pattern procedures, and accident-reporting requirements are just a few of the topics I’ve tried to grasp as I pursue my private-pilot’s license. After all of this — the tears over weight and balance calculations, the notebooks crammed with acronyms, and the numerous hours spent trying to physically land an aircraft — I was surprised to hear Alef Aeronautics CEO Jim Dukhovny say that a long-term goal for the flying-car company is to not require a pilot’s license for operation of the car/plane. “As long as you know the difference between up, down, left, right, front, and back,” he said at the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday, “you should be able to control” his company’s Model A without an extra license — eventually.
Curious.
As a bit of background, if you don’t have Jetsons-type travel aspirations, you probably haven’t heard of Alef Aeronautics. The group made headlines in late June when it received a Special Flight Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA. This enabled the company to start large-scale testing of its flying-car concept, a concept that differs rather dramatically from those of other flying-car companies.
Yes, there are indeed other such companies, and Alef is not the first to receive this type of certificate from the FAA. One, the Samson Sky Switchblade, was on display at the aviation mecca that is EAA AirVenture 2023. The difference between the Switchblade (and Terrafugia’s Transition) and the Alef Model A is that the former needs a traditional runway in order to fly. The latter, however, can supposedly take off from anywhere — and, as a bonus, it’s completely electric.
In the reveal video, Dukhovny approached the issue as any good businessman would. He gave listeners a problem (congested highways) and presented a solution (flying cars). The goal is to save time and use space more efficiently by creating a vehicle that can function practically on roads and in the air. Cost also came up. Right now, the vehicles are priced around $300,000 each. If you have $150 to spare, you can jump on the pre-order list, and if you’re feeling rather adventurous, $1,500 will bump you to a prime spot in line. So many people have that money lying around, apparently, that they caused the Alef pre-order site to crash.
The biplane-esque design of the Model A is intriguing, and it’s worth watching the reveal video for a fuller understanding of the construction. As Dukhovny said, the designers were trying to “trick physics,” and they seem to have done so very cleverly. While you can apparently trick physics, though, can you trick the weather? Wind, temperature, air density, and a number of other inescapable realities all act upon a craft in flight. Added to that, in the air, you are now in a three-dimensional space that requires significantly more concentration (something many who drive regular cars could use at least a little more of). And what about airspace? What do “highways in the sky” look like in concrete terms? How do you train someone to fly a car without requiring a full pilot’s license? Will the car end up being automated?
These are legitimate questions, and the FAA should be acknowledged for attempting to sort through the regulatory morass that comes with these new creations. Aviation certification is fairly complex, as a quick reading on home-built airplane requirements will tell you. And these vehicles need to be roadworthy, too. Various legal bodies are hard at work addressing these problems. But there is one aspect of the Model A that does have me particularly concerned. It is described as having three manners of movement: driving, flying, and “hopping.” That final mode gives me pause.
According to Dukhovny, this flying car will be able to jump over obstacles in its path, whether it be a river, a downed tree, or a wreck. Theoretically, this would be a godsend for those of us stuck in miles of backed-up traffic on our way to an important meeting.
On the other hand . . .
I’m a low-time, almost-private-pilot with relatively little tech and regulatory experience, so I’m open to all sorts of ideas for how this will work. But as someone who has three brothers and plenty of male friends, I find the idea that we could eventually have 16-year-olds playing leapfrog over each other on major highways to be, frankly, terrifying.
Perhaps I’m just cranky and have no imagination, but I currently like my planes and cars as they are: separate.