The pilot of a road-worthy flying car that crashed near a Vernon, B.C. elementary school Friday says his life flashed before his eyes as the contraption plummeted out of control.
Ray Seibring was test-flying the car, one of six experimental Maverick models, when suddenly it took a hard-left turn and began spiraling.
The pilot said he could see a school in the crash path; he experienced a sense of time slowing down, and knew he had to level the unusual hybrid vehicle.
“The training kicked in so that we were able to operate the aircraft and move it to a safe area,” he said. “Unfortunately we did impact the ground.”
The car, which looks like a dune buggy with a parachute on top and a large propeller on the rear, missed the school. Both Seibring and his sole passenger suffered only minor injuries.
The pilot said his dream is to use a Maverick to deliver aid to hard-to-reach parts of the third world, and that the crash has left him disheartened and discouraged.
Writer Russ Niles of Canadian Aviator Magazine was set to hop aboard the flying car after Seibring landed, but said he still isn’t ruling out a journey on a Maverick.
“Until we know exactly what happened, you can’t really trash the aircraft,” Russ said.
The crash, which is being investigated by the Transportation Safety Board, will still likely have an impact on the model’s future, however.
“It’s always tough when an aircraft crashes during development,” Russ aid. “It does put a pall over the project.”
The flying car did catch the attention of the Vernon school children, where about to embark on a sports day when it crashed. Teachers say they were buzzing about the vehicle all morning.
The car had cameras mounted on it when it crashed, which should aid in understanding what went wrong.
With files from CTV British Columbia’s Kent Molgat and the Canadian Press
