Engineers in the Czech Republic unveil prototype of an electric bicycle that can fly.
Engineers in the Czech Republic have successfully tested their flying bicycle project, F-bike. The bicycle was able to lift off, hover, steer and land during its five-minute flight.
F-bike is a joint effort among several tech companies, but is spearheaded by Technodat. When the project first started in the fall of 2011, it was conceived as a high-tech electric bicycle without any flying capability. But the "e-bike" idea was too mundane to be worthy of pursuit, according to F-bike's website.
Instead, they drew inspiration from the flying machines found in the novels of Jules Verne and Czech author Jaroslav Foglar. Unlike those fictional vehicles, however, F-bike flies not with wings but with six motorized propellers attached to the bike's frame: two propellers in the front, two in the back, and one on each side of the seat.
Technodat CEO Ales Kobylik sees several more unmanned tests in F-bike's future. Although they are planning on testing the bicycle with an actual human rider, no timetable has been set.
