This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
PRAGUE • Is it a bike? Is it a plane?
Three Czech companies have teamed up to make a prototype of an electric bicycle that successfully took off Wednesday inside an exhibition hall in Prague and landed safely after a remote-controlled, five-minute flight.
Looking like a heavy mountain bike, it weighs 95 kilograms (209 pounds). It has two battery-power propellers in the front, two in the back and one each on the sides.
A dummy rode in the saddle.
Milan Duchek, technical director of Duratec, a bicycle frames maker, says more powerful batteries will be needed before a human takes a two-wheeled flight.