Inventor Shops Cycle-Copter Hybrid

John Bakker, the Dutch inventor of a motorcycle-helicopter hybrid, says he is showing his vehicle to several Montreal-based manufacturers.
Although Bakker won’t name the Canadian firms negotiating with Spark Design, a Rotterdam-based engineering company he is working with, he told CanWest News Service that Montreal, as an international hub of aerospace technology on the doorstep of the U.S. marketplace, is the top choice for a factory to build the three-wheel, two-seat Personal Air and Land Vehicle (PALV).
Bakker said the PALV’s primary use would be to fly between major cities, land at a suburban helipad, then retract its rotors and be driven as a three-wheel motorcycle in city traffic. Capable of reaching speeds of about 125 mph on land and in the air, the vehicle would fly no higher than 4,900 feet and cost an estimated $100,000.
Bakker said it could be ready for test flights by the end of 2005.