personal flying go-kart by jetson made its first successful manned flight

flying cars, passenger drones – these days they are number one news headline and a dream for many of us. a perfect gadget, personal flying vehicle, ideal mean of transport and a big potential spectrum of applications. a small company from poland jetson aero decided to take on the challenge of designing and building what most of us would call a flying sports car or go-kart. the team is ready to share their first milestones with us.

for airframe construction, an aircraft grade aluminum was used — shaped profiles were precisely cut and joined together using rivets, a technology used for a long time in the aircraft industry. this allowed producing a very structurally rigid space frame that was also very lightweight. next came the stage where all the electronic components had to be tested and assembled. on a specially built test bed, several different brushless motors, propellers and motor controllers were tested for best static thrust and lowest current consumption. the final touch was mounting a bucket seat borrowed from a race car. even though it was made using carbon composite, the design team made it even lighter by cutting out an array of holes. the first prototype was born and made its maiden flight by the end of 2017. shortly after a manned flight has been conducted and turned out to be a great success for the team.

pre-flight check just moments before first manned flight begins taking the pilot to the skies

the decision was made to start a development of pre-production prototype — one made almost entirely using carbon fiber composites. an aluminum space frame will be replaced by ultra rigid, and lighter at the same time, carbon monocoque shell. quiet, powerful and pro-eco electric drive, quick charging from an ac socket, compact size, ultra-light construction, occupant safety oriented and most of all extremely easy to use – these are the targets the team has aimed for developing an innovative product. unlike solutions available today there are no complicated take-off procedures, no need for a license, no frequent and costly maintenance requirements. never in the history of aviation and transportation flying was so easy to reach and use for everyone.

carefully programmed flight computer provides a very stable flight

preparing the prototype for one of many test flights before commencing manned flight

this is how its creators from poland-based jetson aero company imagine racing the speeder friends

the final product has been already designed in 3D software where its designers could also run strength calculations for carbon fiber monocoque shell

project info:

designer: jetson aero

frame: aluminum

power: eight electric motors in h configuration – 18hp each, 32 batteries total, four batteries feed one motor

total system thrust: about 340 kg

weight with batteries: 75.7 kg

max speed: 100 km/h

flight time: 15 minutes

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom