Gyroplanes

Although drones are a good substitute for piloted aircraft in hazardous weather conditions, it's obviously still best for their users if the things don't crash. The Czech-designed ThunderFly TF-G1 autogyro drone was created with that fact in mind.

Britain's Arc Aero Systems, formerly Samad Aerospace, has put forth its vision for a "cost-effective, low-carbon solution to intercity travel." The hybrid Linx P9 promises to beat comparably sized helicopters on range, speed and operating cost.

Although gyroplanes were once bare-bones open-cockpit contraptions, we're seeing an increasing number of more deluxe, fully enclosed models. The Argon GTL 915 iS is one of the latest – and certainly one of the sharpest-looking – to hit the market.

Germany's Fraundorfer Aeronautics has unveiled its Tensor 600X gyroplane at the European Rotors show. It's a two-seat design mainly targeted at personal use, but the company claims it'll soon scale up to a certified six-seater for air taxi purposes.

Dezso's nearly ready to race. The Street Wing concept is a fully electric, solar-supported streetable airplane, and the G2 Gyrocycle is a race-focused, 200 mph three-wheeler that's already rolling on the street, and nearly ready to fly.​

A quick look over what's out there, in development in the world of flying cars and motorcycles … with a bonus look at some personal flying saucers, a flying boat and a few concepts that will never get off the ground.

This Yamaha R1-engined, biodiesel-powered all-terrain dune buggy is capable of extremely safe flight as a powered paraglider. There's a commuter model in the pipeline - and you won't need a pilot's license to fly it.

Simple to build, easy to fly, faster than helicopters and arguably safer than anything else in the sky: gyroplanes like the Super Sport might look odd, but they can provide easy aviation thrills for around the price of a family car.

For more than 50 years, the media have been promising us the personal flight revolution; by 2000 we'd all be getting around in flying cars, cruising down the sk