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Still Waiting for a Flying Car? Check Out the Maverick You can Already Buy

It’s pretty hard to make a vehicle that will perfectly work both on roads and in air without compromising comfort, performance, safety, versatility, ease of use and, most important, cost. We recently saw the Vaylon Pegase project that promises to be a cheaper flying car for the masses, but we’re glad to announce there is already such a vehicle on sale - the Maverick.
Maverick flying car 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
The Maverick flying car is not as stylish as the Pegase, but it retains most of its features: it’s an all-terrain buggy with room for two, is powered by an efficient gasoline engine, can take off and land anywhere if there’s a patch of leveled terrain, it’s easy to use and cheap to run. The whole thing comes at $94,000 (€74,300) and will eat 5 to 6 gallons per hour (19 to 23 l) in the air and get a 25 mpg (9,4 l/100 km) rating on land.

Just like the Pegase, the Maverick is a big powered paraglider that can be also driven on land. The 2.5-liter 190 hp Subaru engine can power both the wheels and a propeller at the back when it’s in flying mode.

On land, the “car” will sprint from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.9 seconds and reach over 100 mph (160 km/h) while in air it will cruise at 40 mph (64 km/h).

How do you get airborne?

It’s pretty easy to switch the Maverick into aircraft mode since its wing is a big parachute on a pole (mast). The whole operation is said to take between 15 to 20 minutes. From there, you’ll need about 300 ft (91 m) of flat terrain to take off at a 600 fpm (183 m per minute) climbing rate.

Steering is done via the same steering wheel you’ll be using on the road, plus some extra pedals on the floor.

If licensed as an E-LSA (Light Sport Aircraft), you’ll be able to liftoff with a maximum of 450 lbs (204 kg) of useful load, but if it’s licensed as an E-AB (Experimental Amateur Build) the numbers grow to 700 lbs (317 kg).

Passenger wise, the first case will let two people climb onboard and fly (including the pilot) while in the second circumstance three people are allowed in. On land, the Maverick will take four people on board without any problems.

Oh, almost forgot to tell you what you’ll need to operate the Maverick. For road use, a standard driving license is enough, but for air time you’ll definitely need a sport pilot license with a powered parachute rating or a private pilot license with a powered parachute rating.

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