Netherlands Technology Lifts PAL-V Into The Market | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Sun, Mar 25, 2018

Netherlands Technology Lifts PAL-V Into The Market

Netherlands Aerospace Center Helped Design Rotor Blades And Propeller

At the recent Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland the PAL-V Liberty was unveiled to the public as the first Dutch-made flying car. The PAL-V is a ‘gyrocopter’, a flight-capable vehicle with retractable blades that doubles as a car. The Netherlands Aerospace Center (NLR) was jointly responsible for designing the composite rotor blades and propeller, for developing the required manufacturing methods and for making the first products for flight tests.

The difference between a gyrocopter and a helicopter is that a gyrocopter’s blades are powered by wind instead of an engine. A push-propeller gives the vehicle forward thrust and thus the wind that makes the rotor turn. This immediately provides a safety advantage, because landing is also easily possible without an engine. The rotor then works as a parachute. This makes the PAL-V rotor system technically simpler than a helicopter, but it does need a ‘takeoff roll’ to get off the ground. You can also ‘spin up’ the rotor using a pre-rotator (electrically powered) so as to shorten the takeoff roll. This makes vertical takeoff another possibility.

The two-engine PAL-V Liberty can carry two people. On the road it has a top speed of 100 mph, and in the air 97 knots. Its maximum flying altitude is 11,000 feet and it has a range of 350 nautical miles. Switching from ‘road mode’ to ‘air mode’ occurs partly manually during the pre-flight walk-around (inspection) and takes approximately ten minutes. Work is currently in progress to obtain certification from the European civil aviation authorities. The first PAL-V Liberty production series is expected to start in 2019 and will consist of 50 machines. Customers must hold a pilot’s licence and for the unique first series will have to pay approximately $613,000 per vehicle.

The PAL-V is described as a "revolutionary personal transport concept that responds to the growing demand for individual and efficient medium-distance transport. It meets a need for low-threshold and combined road and air transport that is fast, safe and reliable. The PAL-V will therefore be focused on affluent business travellers, but also emergency services like the police and fire brigade. Electric or hybrid power systems are possible."

NLR’s contribution to this project reflects its strategy to offer solutions not only for challenges in the aerospace sector today and tomorrow, but also to develop and apply knowledge for future transport concepts and platforms.

(Image provided wit NLR news release)

FMI: www.nlr.org

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Prelim: Piper PA-23

Pilot Also Reported That Due To A Fuel Leak, The Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Were Not Used On June 4, 2025, at 13:41 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damage>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: One Man’s Vietnam

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Reflections on War’s Collective Lessons and Cyclical Nature The exigencies of war ought be colorblind. Inane social-constructs the likes of racis>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Capella Aircraft Corp FW1C50

Pilot Reported That He Was Unfamiliar With The Single Seat Amateur-Built Airplane And His Intent Was To Perform High-Speed Taxi Testing Analysis: The pilot reported that he was unf>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Timber Tiger Touts Curtiss Jenny Replicas

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): First Kits to Ship October 2023 Having formerly resurrected the storied shape of the Ryan ST—in effigy, anyway—Montrose, Colorado-based Tim>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.04.25): Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO]

Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO] Area navigation based on performance requirements for aircraft operating along an ATS route, on an instrument approach procedure or in a d>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC