Maverick Flying Car
A Flying Car Developed for Mission Transportation
Designed to be flown by someone in remote areas where transportation is a significant hurdle.
On Paper
Why Was It Developed?
One of the key challenges in remote places around the world is transportation. As ITEC works to develop tools for the indigenous church, we saw an opportunity to produce a tool to meet the challenges of remote transportation.
The idea of the Maverick stemmed from the powered parachute operated by the Waodani for 2 years in the jungles of Ecuador. While a powered parachute provides a solution for flight, it has limited ability on roads. The goal was to make the Maverick a useful, practical, and innovative vehicle that is capable of true frontier transportation.
The Maverick was designed to be flown by someone without a long-term background in aviation. The vehicle would be mainly driven but had the capability to fly short distances over obstacles such as a washed out road, a failed bridge, or any other situation when roads are not available. In remote areas, there may not be another way to access the people if roads are not passable.
Key Vehicle Stats
- The Maverick is a fully road legal, FAA certified flying car.
- 190 HP, Fuel Injected, 2.5 Liter Subaru Engine.
- 0 to 60 mph in about 3.9 seconds and will go over 100 mph on the ground. It will fly with an airspeed of 40 mph.
- The Maverick requires about 300 feet for take off. The rate of climb is 600 feet per minute (fpm) at gross weight and 1,200 fpm solo.
- The Maverick Project brought attention from both Christian and secular news outlets.
- The Maverick received the 2009 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award.
Where Does the Project Stand?
During the development of the Maverick there were tremendous successes and significant challenges faced by the team. The two greatest challenges came in two separate incidents where there were issues involving the parachute wing. Two accidents, one in British Columbia, Canada, and another near our facility in Florida occurred. We praise God that no lives were lost in either of these accidents. Neither incident was due to the Maverick vehicle itself or the engine. Both accidents could be traced back to parachute issues.
Upon examination of the resources it would take to engineer a special, custom-designed wing for the unique characteristics of the Maverick, the decision was made to conclude development of the project. The difficult decision was made to refocus our small engineering and mission transportation teams to other projects. This led to the start of the ITEC UAV (drone) program for autonomous package delivery to hard-to-reach areas. Our desire is to pass the Maverick project on to another group or organization able to take it to the next level. Please pray that God would bring the right buyer in His divine timing.
It is a common misconception that Steve Saint’s injury in 2012 was in the Maverick. This is not true. These incidents were completely separate.
