Company promises a flying sports car very soon, there are just a number of catches
- Introducing the world’s first flying sports car
- It will convert from an aircraft to a sports car in three minutes
- Plus it’s set to take off in the next two years
Published on Jul 25, 2024 at 3:58 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jul 26, 2024 at 3:05 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
This US-based company has promised a flying sports car in two years – but there are several catches you need to know about.
Two years seems to be the magic number put on the flying car with other companies forecasting the same timeline.
However, this sports car would completely revolutionize mobility.
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The flying sports car
While several flying cars are on the horizon, Samson Sky is not promising just any flying car – it’s a flying sports car.
In other words, it’s a level above the eVTOLs and flying cars that arguably aren’t really flying cars at all.
Samson Sky is bringing the Switchblade to the market.
It promises to be both a good airplane and a good sports car.
The Oregon, US, company has been developing it since 2009 and flew the prototype in November 2023.
The company used this first flight to develop its latest prototype.
Per the website: “The Switchblade is a three-wheel, street legal vehicle that you drive from your garage to a nearby local airport. Once there, the wings swing out and the tail extends in under three minutes.
“You then fly your registered aircraft directly to your destination – at up to 200 mph and 13,000 feet.”
The max takeoff weight of the vehicle is 1,850 pounds and it has a 210 HP three-cylinder electric hybrid engine.
33 mpg on the ground and 9.5 mp9 in the sky is promised with its huge gas tank meaning a land fuel range of 1,188 miles.
Samson Sky quotes an in-air top speed of 322 km/h (200 mph), with a ceiling of 13,000 feet.
On the ground, the top speed is 201 km/h (125 mph.
That means it can go 0-97 km/h (0-60 mph) in just 5.6 seconds.
Plus it takes just three minutes to go from air to road mode.
The Switchblade’s creator, Sam Bousfield, spoke to Oshkosh Northwestern: “The new design destroys the misconception that a flying car has to be a mediocre car or a mediocre plane, or both.”
The drawbacks
Look further into the design and you’ll notice it is in a standard trike position – not a true sports car.
The single narrow front wheel means heavy understeer and roll.
As for payload, the Switchblade has either a 40-gallon fuel tank, a 30-gallon fuel tank, or a 36-gallon fuel tank, quoting a 575-pound payload.
That equates to two people, their luggage, and fuel.
With a gallon of gas weighing six pounds, take the full fuel load out of the payload and you have 359 pounds of weight: 180-pound occupants and no luggage.
In other words, less than a Honda CR-Z.
Legally be a motorcycle, despite disc brakes, air-conditioning, control redundancies, and a crash structure there will be no IIHS crash testing.
In addition, buyers will be required to assemble 51 percent of their own vehicle with a $20,000 build program in the $170,000 starting price, cutting build time down to around a week.
Interested? You’ll need a pilot license and an airport to take off from – meaning it’s not going to help on most people’s urban commute.
The Samson Sky has over 2,600 reservations, with a crowdfunding campaign helping the company build three more prototypes and complete the Production Engineering phase.
Samson Sky also needs venture capital investment to finally take off.
With flying cars completing their first public test flights, the future is closer than you might think.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
