PAL-V, Carving Its Way into the Sky

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 3 Comments

John van den Heuvel, Science & Technology Advisor (Innovatie Attaché) for the Netherlands Office for Science & Technology (NOST), and working in the Dutch Consulate General in San Francisco, wants people to know about his country’s innovative answer to bland or grating driving experiences.  It may even signal a first wave in freeing up freeways and opening new aerial vistas for commuters. Think of the automobile commercials that show thousands of commuters trapped in grinding bumper-to-bumper traffic, only to be outdone by a spiffily-dressed, cheerful-looking soul who just happens to own the sponsor’s vehicle and to somehow find the magic exit road that takes the driver down open roads and past idyllic views.  We envy the thought, but most of us know it’s a fantasy.  The Dutch government is intervening and showing its ideas to the rest of the world through the PAL-V (personal air and land vehicle) which combines three-wheel ground vehicle and gyrocopter. According to its makers, “The …