12 Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions

When we envision the future, there are almost always flying cars. That’s probably why we keep trying to make them work, even after so many failed attempts. This is the story of one of those attempts.

Henry Smolinski worked at Rocketdyne, a rocket engine production company, for more than a decade. Flying was in his blood. When he left Rocketdyne he formed the company Advanced Vehicle Engineers with his friend Hal Blake. They had one purpose: the design and production of a flying car. Rather than build a flying car from scratch, the pair hit upon an idea that was either brilliant or completely unhinged. They were going to take an existing car and an existing airplane, chop them up, and mash them back together (via Mental Floss).

Their first model, the AVE Mizar, started with a Ford Pinto and a Cessna Skymaster. The idea was for the vehicle to spend most of its time being an ordinary car. When you wanted to fly, you’d drive to the airport, attach the Cessna parts to the car, and fly away. At your destination, you’d detach the plane parts and drive away. Despite the unconventional design, it seemed to work. Over the course of three months, the vehicle underwent a number of test flights. However, during its last test flight, Smolinski took Mizar up himself along with his partner Hal Blake. A couple of minutes after takeoff, the right wing folded in, and the Mizar crashed, killing both men.