Company promises a flying sports car very soon, there are just a number of catches

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.