“Aeromobile 3 is not the end of a challenging project, it is the beginning of a whole new adventure which may change how we look at personal transport in the future…We are set to reinvent the flying car without constraints and deliver excitement through unique technical solution and design…”
Icarus, Leonardo da Vinci, the Wright Brothers. Throughout time man has struggled conquer the elements – to expand his control of his environment. For an earthbound hominid like man, flight has always been the ultimate challenge.
Finally, almost out of nowhere, an extraordinary machine, part H.G Wells, part Rupert Bear, is being previewed at motor shows around the world – the AeroMobile 3, a car that flies!
The magnificent men with their flying machine are Juraj Vaculik, founder of the company, and Stefan Klein, Chief Technical Officer. Modesty is not their style. Nor should it be. This extraordinary hybrid, produced by a company with staff of only twelve people located in Bratislava, is as beautiful as it is novel. It has been in development since its conception in 1989. The final prototype, building on the experience of three previous incarnations, took only ten months to get Certification by The Slovac Federation of Ultra-Light Flying. (Granted in 2010.)
The size of a limousine or a large sedan, the Aeromobile is capable of speeds up to 120 miles per hour. For lightness and strength, the most advanced composite materials have been used for the wings, wheels and body shell. The wings also have a variable angle of attack enabling a shorter take off. Fuel is gasoline, not kerosine, so refuelling can be done at ordinary gas stations.
Vaculik, the founder of the company and the brains behind the original project, seems to come trailing all the attributes of a latter day renaissance man. He first surfaced as one of the student leaders of the Velvet Revolution which eventually won Slovakia’s release from communism. His professional life began as a theatre director. From there he moved to being a creative director for major global ad agencies. In 1996 he founded the agency Made By Vaculic, one of the leading agencies in the CEE region. Under his leadership the company has won more than 200 awards for creativity and campaign efficiency including EPICA, Festival, Cresta and EFFIE, among others.
