Czech it out – a flying bike!

Probably every little boy, or any person who’s ever been stuck in traffic, dreams of possessing the Man of Steel’s power of flight – zooming through the skies without a care in the world. However, with the team effort of Duratec, Technodat and Evektor (three companies in the Czech Republic) this dream can become a reality … Enter the F-Bike flying bicycle prototype.

The soaring wonder made its debut at a press conference in Prague, where it took to the skies for its five minute flight. This is made possible by the flying machine’s six battery-powered propellers – two 10 kW-motors in front, and the same at the back, with one smaller one on each side.

According to Milan Duchek, Duratec’s technical director, the five-minute flight time will increase as the capacity of batteries grows. “Because this capacity doubles every ten years we can expect that, in the future, it will be sufficient for the bike to be used for sports, tourism or similar activities.”

However, the short flight time isn’t the only thing hampering the fulfilment of people’s Superman mountain biking dreams as, while in development, the F-Bike is currently remote controlled – which isn’t child’s play …

The “pilot”, Jan Spatny, says the weight of the craft makes it tricky to control. “It’s not as easy to control as a toy or RC model. It’s quite a complicated piece of equipment and you have to take into account that it weighs 95 kg.”