Samson Motorworks announces the SkyBike

What human being has not had the dream of flying through the air with the same vehicle they are driving on the road? That dream could soon come true. By utilizing motorcycle manufacturing techniques and volume pricing, many pilots could soon own a personal, highly usable airplane for considerably less cost than a typical small aircraft - but not just any airplane. The SkyBike™ is an airplane that can be both aircraft and ground transportation. For many years, the ability to fly to a destination and drive away has been the dream of aviators. The innovative SkyBike™ from Samson Motorworks provides the ultimate transportation vehicle.

President, Sam Bousfield, said "with our three-wheel enclosed vehicle, you can drive in air conditioned comfort to a local airport where the wings are extended, fly to another airport to land, retract the wings and then continue to drive wherever you want to go." If inclement weather sets in, instead of being grounded, one is free to drive home – an option not currently available to pilots. "This could make flying safer, as it takes away that 'got to make it home' pressure when the weather starts to turn rough", he said.

Advantages of this vehicle:

The fuel problems and price disadvantage of aviation gasoline disappears with this solution, as automobile gasoline now becomes easily available to the SkyBike™.

The combination of low vehicle weight and efficient engine options (all of them meet current California motorcycle emissions regulations), make this a highly 'green' vehicle while providing both high gas mileage and exciting performance. (55 mpg on land, 25+ mpg in air, 0-60 in just over 6 seconds, 500' take-off roll, top speed of 95 mph land / 140+ mph air).

The flexibility of both flying and driving are blended to create a new means of transportation, and allow one to 'fly direct' rather than follow the highway.

A high-tech, patent pending telescoping wing allows the main wing to be retracted into the body of the vehicle rather than having to tow or fold wings.

Swift Engineering, who recently completed the E400 jet for Eclipse, is rapidly finishing the engineering work to finalize the design. We have passed the point of knowing it can be done and are into the phase of tweaking the design for maximum benefit and ease of manufacture.