LANGKAWI: Was it built with KDK fans? This was the general cheeky response of Malaysians to the unveiling of a scale model of a flying vehicle, dubbed Vector, at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace 2019 (Lima’19) exhibition.
The vehicle’s debut at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) has been stealing the limelight at this year’s edition as many participants were eager to see it - thinking that it was touted to be the much-talked-about “flying car”, but it is nowhere near that.
In fact, Aerodyne senior group business development and consulting director Imtyaz Mohd Azzat refuted the idea that the company was developing a flying car because the Vector, to be exact, was designed to be a “point-to-point air transportation system”.
Many playfully asked if the model was made from the famous KDK fans.
"It looks like the stand fan in my house. It can be bought at Giant Supermarket for RM69,” said Facebook user Lee Sii Wong.
“They must have done joint research with Panasonic fans,” quipped Adillah Joni.
“So they attached four KDK fans onto some Recaro seats and it attracted MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry)'s attention,” suggested Alex Hoh Desu.
User Sam Chuah chimed in with, “Looks like they installed it with four units of National standing fans. Awesome!”
Some users also criticised the lack of innovation in the project, saying that it was not a brand new idea and that it had been done before.
“It is merely a drone. Nowadays, there are plenty of drones that can carry up to a 500kg load. We were misled to believe that it is a vehicle,” said Daniel Wang.
Shaggy Chang said, “We’ve had this for decades. It’s called a helicopter”.
User Mohd Kamal added that it was a “quadcopter”.
There were also several people who complained about the design of the model, saying that the Vector “looks like a mere toy”.
“Well, you can find it in Toys R Us,” said user Izwan MJ.
“Unbelievably awesome. Good for primary school projects,” added Manal Ismail Al-Masry.
Asked when the vehicle was expected to cruise the skies, Aerodyne’s Imtyaz said the Vector prototype was slated to be ready to fly as early as June.
He also said that his four-year-old company, with experience in drone technology, had yet to determine the price of the Vector should the vehicle be ready to enter the market soon.
On government support, Imtyaz said he was grateful that the Entrepreneur Development Ministry had been supportive and very open so far by helping the company develop the ecosystem that would make this idea work.
“Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was also pleased with this idea when he visited our booth (at Lima’19),” he said.
