Flying cars: taking off or pie in the sky?

Jean Michel Jarre has become the first passenger to try out a flying car. Will it take off or is it just another toy for the rich?

Bearing in mind that both a driver’s and a pilot’s licence are required to pilot a flying car, plus a three-month training course, a Euro Weekly reporter asked five random people in Mallorca for their opinions.

Air traffic control

Long-time resident Emma is concerned about safety aspects and air traffic control: “For now, a flying car is absolutely a rich person’s toy. The bigger questions would be, who controls the airways? And do we need a special type of air traffic control? Will people be allowed to take off and land outside their homes?” That would surely be annoying for everyone.

Pie in the sky

Dawn, visiting from the UK, is worried about the extra pollution flying cars would cause: “It will use some kind of aviation fuel and will presumably be flying at low altitude. How much of that will we be breathing in at close range? There is a lot to be resolved before this idea ‘takes off’. Is it just pie in the sky?”

Flying machine

Joan from Mallorca is a professional driver. He loves riding his motorbike in the mountains – and his horse!

“I’ve already got my flying machine,” he says. “I don’t need another one. But it’s a nice fantasy to dodge traffic. I remember seeing that in cartoons as a boy.”

Noise pollution

Ursina, from Switzerland, is against developing air space for traffic. She feels there is something fundamentally wrong about doing so for private, individual use.

Ursina is also concerned about the noise flying cars would make right above people’s heads. “The noise everywhere is bad enough as it is. Just think of how annoying drones are, hovering over you with that whining noise, and they are just small. With flying cars, you wouldn’t be able to find peace and quiet anywhere anymore.”

Not a reasonable solution

Kim, also from Switzerland, does not see flying cars as a solution to traffic or the high numbers of cars on the roads. He also finds it absurd that towns are full of cars parked on the streets. “There are already enough vehicles, without inventing new ones. Extending into a third dimension is no kind of solution. An extra layer of traffic above us? Nonsense! It would just lead to chaos.”

Kim believes a better solution to traffic problems would be to redirect all cars underground and leave the Earth’s surface to pedestrians – and cyclists, of course!

“Or better still, we should all just learn teletransportation. Beam me up, Scotty!”

Our small sample of people did not have anything good to say about the advent of flying cars. What do our readers think? Have your say.