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Wednesday 22 October 2014

Flying car crashes and burns in Florida


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The Maverick was designed to access remote areas for missionary work.ItecUSAvideo/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
Two people have minor injuries after a Maverick flying car that took off from Dunnellon airport in central Florida, crashed back down and caught fire Tuesday morning, police say.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office issued a statement posted to Facebook that said "the NTSB and FAA will not be responding because they do not recognize this as an aircraft."
The flying car did, though, reportedly have an FAA registry number.
The Maverick, which retails for $94,000 (50 percent downpayment required), was designed by a nonprofit called the Indigenous Peoples' Technology and Education Center. Its mission is to "provide tools and technologies to God-followers in frontiers areas to meet their needs."
One of its developers, Troy Townsend, described in a YouTube video posted a few weeks ago how the Maverick -- which flies with the aid of a parachute -- had been to various shows over the summer to display its capabilities.
In May of last year, it reportedly crashed into an elementary schoolyard in Vernon, British Columbia. A report at the time also said that two men suffered minor injuries.In today's incident, the two people on board have not been named. However, this isn't the first time the Maverick has crashed.
I have contacted I-Tec to ask whether it has comment and whether there's any sense that the cause of the two crashes might be similar. I will update, should I hear.

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