If you have ever been stuck in traffic wishing your car could sprout wings, Samson Sky has been working on something pretty close. Its Switchblade flying car can drive out of your garage and take you to a nearby airport. Once there, the wings come out, the tail extends and the vehicle becomes an airplane. You heard right, an airplane. After landing, everything folds back inside so you can drive the rest of the way.
That idea has been around for years. What makes Switchblade worth another look right now is that Samson says it has secured an $80 million investment from Dubai-based Matin Group. Samson plans to use the funding to help move the project toward U. S. production. The company still needs another $20 million to fully fund its current production plan. That new backing gets the Switchblade closer. But what really caught my attention is how much Samson has changed since we first watched this flying car take off.
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The latest Switchblade design looks much more like a car when you are using it on the road. Samson says the wings, tail and propeller are now fully enclosed inside the vehicle during driving mode. That is a major change from the earlier design that completed its first flight in November 2023. When you reach an airport, the wings extend and the tail moves into position for flight. Samson says the transformation from driving mode to flying mode takes about three minutes.
After you land, the process reverses. The flight hardware folds back inside the body before you continue the trip by road. Samson says that setup allows the Switchblade to fit inside a standard garage while also protecting the flight surfaces when the vehicle is being driven or stored. There is still a runway involved, though. The Switchblade does not take off vertically from your driveway. You drive it to an airport, transform it into flight mode and take off from there.
We first covered the Switchblade after its official first flight on Nov. 5, 2023 . The prototype flew from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. Since then, Samson has kept working on the version it hopes to put into customers' hands. The company has changed the design and increased the size of its engine. Samson says it plans to use three production prototypes for more testing around the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.
So while we have already seen a Switchblade get off the ground, the version heading toward production has changed since that 2023 flight. That is why I am especially interested in what happens next. I want to see the latest Switchblade take to the air and show us what this new design can actually do.
Samson is targeting some attention-grabbing performance numbers. The company currently lists a maximum airspeed of 190 mph and a maximum flying range of 450 miles. It lists a maximum road speed of 100 mph. Samson also lists a 160 mph cruise speed. However, its FAQ says that anticipated figure still needs verification during production-prototype flight testing.
The Switchblade uses a hybrid-electric drivetrain . A gasoline engine powers a generator, which supplies electricity to the vehicle's motors. Samson says the system powers the wheels on the ground and the propellers in flight. The company currently lists a 44-gallon fuel capacity and says the vehicle uses 91-octane automotive gasoline.
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Making a flying prototype and building vehicles for customers are two very different challenges. Samson says the new $80 million investment will help establish its first 180, 000-square-foot Switchblade production facility in the U. S. The company signed a Joint Investment Agreement with Matin Group, and the two companies have started setting up a joint venture. Where that factory ends up remains an open question.
Samson Sky CEO and founder Sam Bousfield tells CyberGuy that the search has narrowed considerably, saying, "We will maintain our Samson Sky R&D Facility in Prineville, OR, and we have narrowed down the US production facility to three potential locations in different parts of the country, with some negotiations already begun." Samson has not identified those locations publicly. There is serious new money behind the production effort, but another financial hurdle remains. Samson says $20 million still needs to be raised before its current production plan is fully funded.
Samson's current timeline points to summer 2027. The company says it expects its Builder Assist assembly line to be ready by then. Its first year of production will focus mostly on customers who previously paid for some of the earliest delivery positions. Depositors and reservation holders would follow. Then there is the price. Samson currently estimates the Switchblade VFR kit will start at $200, 000. The IFR version carries an estimated price of $235, 000. Those prices can still change before customer production gets underway.
Bousfield tells CyberGuy that reaching this point has been part of the plan for years. "It's been great developing the technology for a flying car that you park in your garage and is high performance in both modes. Now we get to put it out for people to use and explore the world around them." Before that happens, buyers will have to do something you probably have never done when purchasing a car.
Buying a Switchblade comes with homework. Samson plans for the aircraft to operate under the Experimental Amateur-Built category in the U. S. FAA rules require the "major portion," meaning more than 50%, of an eligible amateur-built aircraft's fabrication and assembly to be completed by people building it for their own education or recreation. That requirement is often called the 51% rule.
Samson says its Builder Assist program will guide owners through their portion of the process. The company says much of its manufacturing process will be automated and computer-driven. It estimates an owner can finish the required work in as little as one week. One regulatory detail deserves some attention here. The FAA says it evaluates aircraft kits to determine whether they can allow a builder to meet the major-portion requirement. The FAA does not approve or certify the kit itself. The finished aircraft also goes through the FAA airworthiness process. So this will be a very different experience from walking into a dealership, signing a few forms and driving home.
A Switchblade may drive like a vehicle on the ground, but once those wings come out, aviation rules take over. Samson says you will need a private pilot certificate to fly one. Ground licensing can vary based on where you register the vehicle. The company says an automobile or motorcycle license may apply depending on local regulations. That also separates Switchblade from some of the other flying vehicles we have been following.
Electric air taxis such as Joby's eVTOL are designed around vertical takeoff and landing. Switchblade takes another route. It uses conventional runways but gives you something an air taxi cannot: the same vehicle stays with you after you land. That could be useful on a regional trip. Instead of landing and then finding a rental car or arranging another ride, you fold the wings away and keep going.
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Here's what makes the Switchblade so interesting to me. You could pull out of your garage, drive to an airport, fly hundreds of miles and then keep driving after you land. No rental car. No waiting around for another ride. The same vehicle goes with you from start to finish. The new funding gets Samson closer to making that happen, but I would not start clearing space in the garage yet. The company still has to finish funding its production plans, choose where to build the Switchblade and put the latest version through more testing. We have seen an earlier prototype fly, but the redesigned vehicle heading toward production still needs to show what it can do in the air.
And if you are thinking, "Where do I sign up?" there is a lot more involved than the estimated $200, 000 starting price. You will need pilot training and access to an airport. You also have to take part in the Builder Assist process. For me, the next big moment comes when this latest Switchblade leaves the runway. If it can deliver on the speed, range and transformation Samson is targeting, this flying sports car suddenly gets a whole lot more interesting.
What I like about the Switchblade is that the idea makes sense the minute you see how it works. You drive to the airport, fly to another city, fold the wings away after you land and keep going. The latest design makes that even more interesting because all that flight hardware disappears inside a vehicle you can park in your garage.
Of course, most of us are not shopping for a $200, 000 flying sports car. The price alone puts the Switchblade out of reach for the majority of us, and becoming a pilot adds another wrinkle. But that does not mean you have to be a potential buyer to find this fascinating. I certainly am not planning to put one in my garage tomorrow, but I want to see whether Samson can actually pull this off.
The new funding gives Samson a much stronger push toward production, and we have already seen an earlier Switchblade fly. Now I want to see this redesigned version get into the air. If Samson can deliver what it is promising, we could be watching a pretty remarkable idea make the jump from a prototype we have followed for years to a flying sports car people can actually own.
Would you trust one vehicle to take you down the highway and into the sky, or would you want to see a few years of customer flights before climbing aboard? Let us know by writing to us atCyberGuy. com.
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