DeLorean Aerospace DR-7 VTOL Makes Good On Doc Brown's Promise

One of the most iconic movies from the '80s was "Back to the Future" and in that original film, just when we think all is well with McFly and his hottie, Doc Brown comes back in a much more futuristic DeLorean time machine and famously tells Marty that where they are going, they don't need roads. DeLorean Aerospace has now made good on Doc's promise and had unveiled the DR-7 VTOL (DR-7? I see what you did there) and it is a flying machine.

Granted, it's not the stainless steel skinned, gull-wing doored car that Doc and Marty saved time in, but it's pretty darn cool. DeLorean Aerospace says that the DR-7 is built like an F1 race car with a monocoque composite body, high-efficiency wing design, and tandem seating configuration. The entire aircraft is built to be lightweight and strong for speed and maneuverability.

The aircraft has vertical takeoff and landing capability, something needed to eliminate the need to start and stop your travels at an airport. The propellers of the DR-7 are shrouded and pivot to transition the aircraft from forward flight to vertical and it uses a dual wing configuration with a smaller wing in front and a large one behind the passenger compartment. The DR-7 is about 20-feet long and 18.5-feet wide. The wings do reportedly have a hinge system that allows them to tuck into the sides of the aircraft allowing it to fit into a large garage.

The engines don't slurp some sort of aviation fuel or even unleaded gasoline, the aircraft is all electric. Delorean Aerospace also notes that it plans to make the aircraft self-flying so that anyone can use the transport presumably without having to get a pilot's license. The company notes that right now it is still in the R&D phase of the project, but has a pair of scale models. The first of those scale models was very small at about 30-inches and was built just to prove that the physics of the design worked.

The second scale model was an engineering model and was 1/3 the size planned for the final versions. Paul DeLorean, nephew of John Delorean who was the founder of DeLorean automobiles, says that the third version will be full-size. DeLorean says, "We are moving forward on a full-size, piloted prototype which will carry two passengers and is designed to operate, fully electric, for a range of 120 miles."

A range of 120-miles is a big promise, other companies building similar aircraft are looking for much shorter ranges per charge to the tune of 25-50 miles. That competitor aiming for 50-miles of range comes from aviation giant Airbus. DeLorean plans to achieve this longer range with a more efficient design. He says, "You can cruise at higher altitude, with greater efficiency. It's designed so that you don't have all the drag." The goal is for a full-size prototype to be ready within a year, and it will be fully flight tested before putting people inside it according to DeLorean. Uber is also working on building flying cars in a similar project, Uber plans flight testing to start in three years.

SOURCE: Wired