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The Future Issue The Over and Under Two dream vehicles for the modern explorerbecause real adventure happens beyond the road
1. LIGHT FLIGHT That's right. It's the plane you keep at the house. The amphibious, folding-wing Icon A5 is one of the first U.S. light aircraft designed after a 2004 FAA rules revision, which halved the time and expense required to get a flyboy badge—now only 20 hours' training and $2,500–$4,000. Just trailer it to your local airstrip, lake, or bay and it's up, up, and away. Hit remote-as-hell fly-fishing spots, drop in on a surfside cabana, or take the lady on a real picnic in the woods. Just don't leave it in your garage (which, at 28' x 8.5' x 8.3' trailered, the A5 just might fit in). The two-seater has a 34-foot wingspan and lightweight carbon-fiber chassis, a 100-horsepower engine, and a top speed of 120 mph. FAA max altitude? 10,000 feet. Range? 350 miles. Miles per gallon? Around 18, and it runs on regular unleaded. The cockpit looks like a Porsche's: racing-inspired gauges, bucket seats, in-dash GPS unit, and, of course, a digital-audio port. Bonus: A built-in parachute is available, to float the craft back to terra firma if you ever screw up. $139,000 (preorder for late-2010 delivery); iconaircraft.com —MARK ANDERS
2. DEEP TRICKS It may look like something out of a James Bond film, but it's real. Hawkes Ocean Technologies' Deep Flight Super Falcon allows any ol' multimillionaire to pull off undersea acrobatics à la the deathless secret agent. The winged submersible—from the company that designed the late Steve Fossett's unfinished Mariana Trench expl—ditches the old ballast system:With the two-ton, fixed-buoyancy Falcon, you just accelerate on the surface, dive via a joystick, and "fly" through le grande bleu.A battery-powered prop drives the craft at up to six knots, for several hours, and as far down as 1,000 feet. Only one hitch: No sexy Rus- sian spy riding shotgun. The Falcon seats two—but in-line, Maverick-and-Goose style, with controls for each. Built of carbon fiber, Kevlar, aluminum, and titanium, it also features thick, unbreakable-glass cockpit canopies for panoramic views. And, like anything smacking of Q, she comes with wingtip laser beams, or "collision-avoidance feeler beams"—for safety, of course. From $1.7 million (est.); deepflight.com —DAVID WOLMAN |
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