Flying Car Reality

A Japanese flying car project is one step closer to taking off into the mainstream.

SkyDrive Inc. announced Friday that it carried out a successful test flight with one person aboard, releasing images of a contraption with propellers lifted several feet off the ground that hovered in a netted area for four minutes.

“We want to realize a society where flying cars are an accessible and convenient means of transportation in the skies and people are able to experience a safe, secure, and comfortable new way of life,” the company’s CEO, Tomohiro Fukuzawa, said in a statement.

“Of the world’s more than 100 flying car projects, only a handful have succeeded with a person on board,” he separately told The Associated Press. “I hope many people will want to ride it and feel safe.”

The machine so far can fly for just five to 10 minutes, but if that can become 30 minutes it will have more potential, including in the Chinese market, Fukuzawa said. The Japanese government is stressing the possibility of connecting remote areas and providing lifelines in disasters.

In the recent test, which was conducted Tuesday, a “pilot was at the controls but a computer-assisted control system helped ensure flight stability and safety while technical staff at the field monitored flight conditions and aircraft performance at all times as backup,” according to SkyDrive.