Flying Car Races - Place Your Bets

M.A. Dworkin

Bentonville, AR - Imagine stepping into your flying car in Frederiksted and zipping over to Christiansted to pick up some burgers at Shupe’s on the Boardwalk, then zipping back out to the East Side to have lunch with some friends, all the while not getting caught up in that nasty mid-day traffic tie up around Sunny Isles. Sounds like a good daydream? Well, it’s not a dream any longer. A company called Jetson’s, is taking orders for 2026 with 2028 deliveries of their Jetson’s Jetson ONE personal aircraft, an electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicle (eVTOL).

The promise of personal flying machines has been around for decades. From flying cars to jetpacks, the future always seemed to promise a traffic-free ride to work that left the roads far below. 

Now, a pioneering company is the latest to claim that it can change the way we travel around town, and around the island. Jetson’s Jetson ONE is powered by eight electrical motors and built from aluminum and carbon fiber. Its prowess was demonstrated at the 2025 UP Summit, an invitation-only event that brings together 300 of the world’s leading transport innovators.  This year’s event took place at Bentonville Municipal Airport, Arkansas. 

Among the star attractions of the show was the world’s first Jetson ONE Race. The four-aircraft race was designed to demonstrate the flying craft’s technological maturity. Among the pilots taking part in the race was Tomasz Patan, Jetson’s Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of the company. While the personal aerial vehicle race certainly seemed like a scene from a sci-fi film, Jetson is betting that the Jetson ONE becomes more than just an airshow curiosity, and steps up to become a viable future transport option. 

Jetson describes its personal aircraft as a Formula One racing car for the sky. The Jetson weighs in at a mere 121 pounds without batteries, and 253 pounds including them. The batteries power the eight motors and propellers, and with a pilot of an appropriate weight onboard (210 pounds maximum) the aircraft has a software-limited top speed of 63 mph.

One area where the aircraft does borrow heavily from race car design is its safety shell, which is designed to protect the pilot should the worst happen. Other safety features include a ballistic parachute system, an auto-landing system, and the ability to keep flying with the loss of one motor. The Jetson ONE has a maximum ceiling of over 1,500 feet. 

Jetson has designed the entire flight to be controlled one-handed using a four-axis joystick. Along with a unique flight computer, the company says the intuitive flight control system means the fundamentals of flight-control can be mastered in under five minutes. The advertised flight time for the aircraft is around 20 minutes. And you don’t need a pilot’s license to fly it. 

However, before you rush out to buy one, the price tag is $128,000.

Now, who won that race between the four flying cars? Don’t throw away your ticket. It looks like it could be a photo-finish.

The other minor little point before you buy one, it’s probably best to check with DLCA and BMV before you take your Jetson eVTOL up for a test flight. The desk clerks in those departments may look at you a bit sideways when you tell them you’re trying to get a license for a flying car.