A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes used to include hovercars and/or VTOL personal air vehicles. Many prototypes have been built since the early 20th century, using a variety of flight technologies. Most have been designed to take off and land conventionally using a runway. Although VTOL projects are increasing, none has yet been built in more than a handful of numbers.
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wing aircraft and other hybrid aircraft with powered rotors such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and gyrodynes.
An autogyro, or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Part 1 of Subchapter A of Chapter I of Title 14 of the U. S. Code of Federal Regulations states that gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven, except for initial starting, but are made to rotate by action of the air when the rotorcraft is moving; and whose means of propulsion, consisting usually of conventional propellers, is independent of the rotor system." While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's unpowered rotor disc must have air flowing upward across it to make it rotate.
A gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a helicopter rotor-like system that is driven by its engine for takeoff and landing only, and includes one or more conventional propeller or jet engines to provide thrust during cruising flight. During forward flight the rotor is unpowered and free-spinning, like an autogyro, and lift is provided by a combination of the rotor and conventional wings. The gyrodyne is one of a number of similar concepts which attempt to combine helicopter-like low-speed performance with conventional fixed-wing high-speeds, including tiltrotors and tiltwings.
The McCulloch J-2 was a small, two-seat autogyro with an enclosed cabin, one of only three designs of this type of aircraft to receive a type certificate in the United States. It was built by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation.
The Rotax 914 is a turbo-charged, four-stroke, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed aircraft engine with air-cooled cylinders and water-cooled cylinder heads. It is designed and built by the Austrian company BRP-Powertrain, owned by Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), as part of its Rotax brand.
The RotorSport UK MT-03 is a two-seat autogyro manufactured to British Civil Airworthiness Requirements CAP643 Section T. New build-aircraft based on the AutoGyro MT-03 design are imported from Germany and completed to British regulations by RotorSport UK Limited in the United Kingdom.
The Avian 2/180 Gyroplane was a two-seat, single-engine autogyro built in Canada in the 1960s. Several prototypes were built but series production was never achieved.
The Hafner A.R.III Gyroplane was a British 1930s experimental autogyro designed by Austrian Raoul Hafner, and built by the A.R.III Construction Company at Denham, Buckinghamshire.
The RotorSport Calidus is a German tandem two-seater autogyro modified in the UK to meet British Civil Airworthiness Requirements CAP643 Section T. The Calidus is an enclosed-cockpit development of the open-cockpit RotorSport UK MT-03. New-build AutoGyro Calidus aircraft are imported from the manufacturers, AutoGyro GmbH in Hildeshem, Germany and completed to British regulations by RotorSport UK Ltd.
The AutoGyro Calidus is a German autogyro, designed and produced by AutoGyro GmbH of Hildesheim. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
Skyworks Aeronautics Corp., formerly Groen Brothers Aviation, Inc., Groen Aeronautics Corporation and Skyworks Global, is an American autogyro research and development company based in Chicago. The company was founded in 1986 by David Groen and his late brother Jay Groen in Salt Lake City, Utah. David Groen remains as Senior Advisor.
The AutoGyro MT-03 is a German autogyro, designed and produced by AutoGyro GmbH of Hildesheim. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
AutoGyro GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Hildesheim. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of autogyros in the form of fully assembled, ready to fly aircraft.
The Niki Lightning is a fully enclosed two-seater tricycle autogyro of composite construction, designed and built by Niki Rotor Aviation in Bulgaria. It was introduced in 2009
The AutoGyro eCavalon is a German single-seater electric powered autogyro introduced in 2013. The prototype is under development by AutoGyro GmbH of Hildesheim.
Russian Gyroplanes is a Russian aircraft manufacturer based in Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of autogyros in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft, as well as and hovercraft. The company was founded in 2007.
The PAL-V Liberty is a combination of a three-wheeled car and an autogyro, or gyroplane under development by PAL-V of the Netherlands. Both a driver's license and an autogyro pilot's license are required to operate the vehicle.
