Flying Cars in Prineville
Inventor Sam Bousfield on designing the future
A conversation with Cheryl Parton
Q Let’s try and understand this first: Is the Switchblade a car that flies, a plane that drives or something else altogether?
A When most people think about a flying car, they ask themselves, “Well how do you make a car fly?” Yet, that’s not what appeared to me to be the correct question. I asked, what’s the best layout for a vehicle that both drives and flies? In 2008, when designing the first layout, I thought three wheels had the lightest weight we could get to fit two people while also being the safest way to take off and land. Switchblade is a commercially available flying car, and experimental-class aircraft built by a kit.
My brother was an artist from the cradle. He drew incredibly beautiful drawings, sketches and cartoons. I was an engineer-type. When I did drawings, they were of spaceships, rockets and planes. Recently, one of my childhood friends mentioned I had shown him a picture I drew in kindergarten, and that I told him we were going to have flying cars one day. I asked him, “What took me so long?” Having that thought from early days says something about the power of the ideas of a young person.
What, then, took so long?
It wasn’t until the past 10 years that we had the technology we needed to be commercially successful. There have been flying cars since the ‘50s, it’s not new. But commercial success is completely different. We had to have something that solves a problem for people and that they’ll want to be seen in. Features have to be high performance…it was taking a concept, perfecting it over time, and improving it with the advances in materials. Such as carbon fiber parts.
How did it feel watching a test flight?
The first flight was a magical experience for our team, because we’d been working on it so hard and for so long. Talk about a pride of accomplishment—it’s magnified when it’s the first of its kind. It was almost an unreal situation, we had seen it in our minds so often. It was its own unique experience of what it feels like to succeed…I realized this isn’t just my dream, this is real now.
And how do we take the leap into the future? What might the future of air transportation look like?
Artists dream of the future, and scientists rush to keep up with it. If you look at what those artists dream up, you find Star Wars, Star Trek and in them you see lines of vehicles flying in the air, crossing each other at different heights. The technology is already there, it’s called avionics, and it has a highway in the sky component already built in.
What part does mentorship play in helping ideas like these grow?
Just before I started on this venture, I spent 10 years as a Scoutmaster. I always wanted to help people, and it was a way to do that and share the way I was trained on how to enjoy and survive in the outdoors. The Scouts drive it, because that’s how they learn. You do the best by standing back just a little bit, and letting young people fail and grow so they can blossom as people.
Is there a legacy you hope to leave behind?
I’m just a regular guy who happens to be persistent. I figure things out, but I consider most people are more capable that they let themselves believe. If there’s anything I could be, it would be someone who would stand up and say, “You can do this, too. Find your dream and follow THAT and don’t give up and be smart about it. And if you’re not meeting the goal, find a way to get yourself so that you can.”
So, it’s about being persistent and not letting a failure be the end?
To me the person who wins is the person who thinks they can win.
The Switchblade will be available in late 2025, with prices starting at $170,000. See samsonsky.com
Cheryl Parton, Editor-in-Chief
