Flying cars approved, but you’ll need a pilot’s license

Jan 26 2022

A car that can transform into a small aircraft has just passed flights tests in Slovakia with flying colours (pun intended).

Dubbed the “Air Car”, it was awarded an official Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority after completing 70 hours of rigorous flight testing.

The test flights – which induced more than 200 takeoffs and landings – were found to be compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards. This was issued by Klein Vision, the company behind the air-car.

‘The challenging flight tests include the full range of flight and performance manoeuvres and demonstrated an astonishing static and dynamic stability in the aircraft mode’ it said.

However, if you’ve been dreaming of hopping into an AirCar, you might be sorely disappointed. A spokesperson for Klein Vision told CNN that a pilot license is required to fly the hybrid vehicle.

The company hopes to have the AirCar commercially available within 12 months. A team of eight specialists clocked up more than 100,000 hours converting design concepts into mathematical models that led to the prototype’s production.

Running on fuel sold at any gas station, the vehicle can fly at a maximum operating altitude of 18,000 feet, the car’s invention Stefan Klein said that AirCar certification opens the door for mass production of very efficient flying cars.’

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Opposition alleges PL newspaper received €30,000 in government ads

Jan 26 2022

The Opposition has accused the Labour government of pumping around €30,000 in adverts for one single issue of KullĦadd, a PL party newspaper, to commemorate the second year of the Robert Abela administration.

Nationalist MP Claudette Buttiġieġ said that government paid the Labour Party around €30,000 in adverts on the newspaper on Sunday 16th January. This refers to a 32-page supplement with adverts from a number of ministries.

Buttiġieġ said that each advert cost around €950 each, going on to criticise h government for spending taxpayer’s money on political propaganda. President of the Nationalist Party’s General Council Mark Anthony Sammut said statistics publishes by the National Statistics Office (NSO) depict a reality of an exponential rise in Malta’s cost-of-living.

Referring to Carmen Ciantar’s €163,000 contract and that of One TV presenter Karl Stagno Navarra, he said that ‘inflation is a reality and it is creating difficulties for those at risk of poverty. The prices of essential items like food are going up every day. But government goes on a reckless spending spree, dishing out money to people close to the Labour Party.’

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Two-thirds of UK Omicron positives say they had COVID before

Jan 26 2022

The findings of a large, continuing study have shown that two-thirds of people recently infected with the Omicron variant say they had COVID-19 previously. The study, React, which swab-tests thousands of volunteers in England, still requires some more work to know how many are true reinfections.

However, results are revealing the groups of people which are more likely to contract the virus again. These also include healthcare workers and households with kids or lots of members under one roof. More than two million people have been tested in the study, with the latest findings based on 100,000 PCR tests posted to volunteers and then returned.

About 4,000 were positive, one of the highest rates since the pandemic began. When a selection of them were sequenced to check which type of COVID was the culprit, almost all were Omicron. Two out of every three (65%) of the infected volunteers said they had already previously tested positive for COVID. There could be instances where the latest PCR might be picking up old virus traces. Other estimates suggest one in every 10 Omicron case is a possible reinfection.

UK’s health security agency chief executive Dr Jenny Harries said that although vaccines may not stop every infection, they were doing a great job at protecting lives.

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Pope Francis’ visit set for April – election rumours abound

Jan 26 2022

Pope Francis is rumoured to have a visit confirmed for Malta on the 2nd and 3rd of April. President George Vella and Prime Minister Robert Abela allegedly agreed to the dates proposed by the Vatican.

This visit was meant to occur back in May of 2020 and then December of 2021, but the pandemic continuously delayed the event.

The news has also sparked rumours that the date might indicate a March election, as Vatican protocol necessitates the Pope does not travel before an election. This has not yet been confirmed, but rumours are plentiful.

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Photo Source: Robert Abela FB , America Magazine