Sun, May 10, 2015
Emergency Parachute Deployment Used To Avert More Serious Accident
The much reported Aeromobil flying car prototype went down during a test flight, Friday, May 8th, after its ballistic parachute was used to avert more significant damage when a test flight went awry.
According to the Aeromobil Facebook page, "The AeroMobil 3.0 experimental prototype is currently undergoing a rigorous analysis and testing programme. During one of the test flights that took place on May 8, 2015, the inventor and test pilot, Stefan Klein, encountered an unexpected situation and activated the advanced ballistic parachute system in an altitude of approximately 300 meters (900 feet).
The system has proved itself fully functional and landed the entire vehicle without any injury to the pilot. The detailed data and overall experience from this test flight will be thoroughly analyzed and the results will be used in the ongoing R&D and improvements of the prototype. Testing of the current prototype 3.0 and further product development will continue after the replacement of the damaged parts.
In the process of developing new vehicles, especially in the prototype phase, the possibility and likelihood of an unexpected situation is a natural part of the testing program. This is a learning period which allows us to detect and subsequently refine our design. It is necessary to test the prototype in every way possible to establish its limits and to improve on them. The flight recording details will help us learn from the data and improve the performance of the vehicle prior to our next flight test."
Aeromobil, in its limited statements at this time, has failed to note what difficulties were experienced and how severe those issues were at the time. Suffice it to say, the use of the parachute seems to indicate that something serious occurred and we look forward to more info becoming available some time in the future.
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