DUBAI Ever wished you could fly to escape bad traffic on the roads? Well, the day is not far when you could do just that as the world’s first flying bicycle is being unveiled in Dubai on December 3.
Called Flike, the Dh735,000 aerial wonder’s go-to-market model is being launched at the Middle East Extreme Sports Expo taking place at the Dubai International Marine Club. Expo founder and partner at Never before Events Zafir Saifudin told XPRESS: “The Flike is the world’s first human piloted drone. It has been developed by Hungarian company Bye Gravity which will be launching the first batch of its production ‘tricopters’ in early 2016.”
He said a Youtube video of the prototype Flike’s first manned flight went viral in May attracting over a million views in one week. Built by aviator Balazs Kerulo, it is a six-rotor copter with pairs of rotors mounted on each side of three prongs. The pilot sits in the middle, two prongs extending forward and one going directly behind, with a control panel in front. Movement is controlled by changing the rotation speed of one of the rotors.
Flike is said to be useful for operations like search and rescue, police patrol, border guard, fire fighting and surveillance. Saifuddin said: “Expo visitors will be able to see a 3D printed model of the design of the final production model as well as experience a virtual reality simulator (3D Oculus) flying experience of the Flike. We are showcasing several other new technologies like a 360 degree aerosport simulator from Fu tech, a 20metre electric bike demo track by Ebikes, a Scarti fishing simulator by 9ayid.com and a 40m remote control drag race track by Hobby Centre.” The expo runs until December 5. Entry tickets are for Dh40 (free for children under 10).
