It is safe to bet that a flying motorcycle will never be a practical transportation option. Yet, this process has not stopped an engineering firm in California from playing the long odds. The company is building a prototype called the Switchblade, and it hopes to sell a do-it-yourself kit as early as 2015. Attractive design and the promise of having air and ground transport in one package have kept alive dreams of a flying vehicle. A three-wheel design was chosen because it meets the definition of a motorcycle, which is not as highly regulated as cars are. For example, motorcycles do not need bumpers, which would make a flying vehicle heavier and more expensive. As the company envisions it, occupants would sit in the aerodynamic Switchblade, in climate-controlled luxury with an instrument display that switches from air to ground readings on landing. The Switchblade will succeed, the company believes, because it will transform easily between transportation in the air and on the ground. If pilots encountered bad weather while flying, they could put down at an airstrip, fold in the wings and finish the trip by travelling on the ground with no manual disassembly. The reality, however, is more complicated, given that aircraft are prohibited from operating on roads and tightly regulated as to how close they can fly to homes, military installations and environmentally sensitive areas.