Flies From France To England, Drives To London

A Pegasus flying car made a crossing of the English Channel Wednesday, making the trip in under an hour.

Test pilot Bruno Vezzoli drove his Pegasus out of Paris, flew it across the Channel, then drove it to London. The actual flight began at 8:03 a.m. (local time), and touched down at 8:53 a.m. Vezzoli departed from an abandoned military runway in Ambleteuse, côte d'opale (France), and landed in Douvres, England.

The Vaylon Pegasus is the first flying car that was certified by European authorities for both driving and flying. It has a range of about three hours, and needs only about 300 feet to take off and 90 feet to land. It can fly as fast as 43 knots at an altitude of up to  and keeps an altitude of about 9,800 feet.

The Pegasus ... which resembles a dune buggy and uses a parafoil to generate lift and for controls in the air ... was equipped with sea rescue equipment just in case there was a problem crossing the channel.

The Pegasus is the brainchild of journalist-turned-entrepreneur Jerome Dauffy, who told the U.K. newspaper The Mirror that he was a inspired by French writer Jules Verne. The Pegasus came out of a dream to build an aircraft that could fly around the world in 80 days.

(Image from YouTube video and provided by Vaylon France news release)

FMI: www.vaylon.fr