"We are getting together tomorrow with a number of people I believe will be able to assist to get the project started in South Africa, and I hope this will put South Africa in the forefront," Winstone Jordaan, who is spearheading the moves to get Skycar, or some of its parts, built in South Africa, said last Friday.

"I have established a strong relationship with the Skycar makers, and I have visited them and seen the car, and I believe we can make it happen here."

He pointed out that South Africa has extremely strong expertise in the aircraft industry, and many highly trained people were retrenched when Armscor cut back its activities. These people would be able to use their expertise to build Skycar or its components at much lower costs than in the US, where Skycar is based.

South Africa, with its wide open spaces coupled with a strong air traffic control infrastructure, would be an ideal testing ground for Skycar.

The vehicle, which has been designed by Moller International in America, is expected to be launched at a price of around $1-million - which, says Jordaan, would make it attractive to a large number of people in this country.

Extremely easy to fly, the four-seater Skycar has eight Wankel-type engines that are housed inside four metal housings on the side of the vehicle, and which drive a fan system. The fans direct incoming air outwards or downwards via a set of vanes, and it is these vanes which control the lift and direction of flight.

Paul Moller (64) has spent 40 years and millions of dollars developing his Skycar and is now very close to developing this, the first mass-marketed flying car.

In 1965, he demonstrated his first attempt, the XM-2, which hovered off the ground but didn't go anywhere. In 1989, Moller unveiled the M200X, which has now flown 200 flights and has gone as high as 15 metres off the ground.

Latest design
Moller's latest design, the Skycar M400, is designed to take off and land vertically, like a Harrier Jet, in small spaces. It can reach speeds of 650 km/h but will cruise at around 560, and it has a range of 1 500 km.

Petrol, diesel, alcohol, paraffin and propane can be used to fuel the Skycar, and its fuel consumption will be comparable to that of a large 4x4, getting 15-litres/100 km.

Although the initial cost of a Skycar will be about $1 million, once it begins to be mass produced that price could come down to as low as $60,000.

To make the Skycar safe and available to the general public, it will be completely controlled by computers using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, which Moller calls a fly-by-wire system. In case of an accident, the vehicle will release a parachute and airbags, internally and externally, to cushion the impact of the crash.

"There will need to be changes to our air licensing system to accommodate the Skycar, but I don't see that as an insurmountable problem," adds Jordaan.

"The Skycar is extremely safe and easy to fly, and Peter Moller says he can teach someone to fly it in a few hours.