The AVE Mizar was piloted by Charles Janisse on August 26th, 1973. Soon after takeoff the right wing strut mounting base detached. Charles felt that turning the aircraft would put too much stress on the wing which was now unsupported so he decided to land the plane in a bean field. The nearby roadway was then closed to traffic so that Charles could drive the otherwise undamaged plane back to the airstrip.
Despite the initial failure the flying car still sparked the imagination and many people were excited to watch its development. Smolinski had a massive ad campaign filled with sales pitches and press conferences, he promised that the vehicle was so easy to use that even a woman could attach and detach the fame. He even said that it would be affordable at only $18,000. The hype around the car was so big that the AVE Mizar was already being written into the script of the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. The designers of the AVE Mizer were so confident in the success of their plane that when Charles Janisse was unavailable for the next test flight Henry Smolinski and his associate Harold Blake flew the car themselves.
On September 11th, 1973 the Mizar took off and once again the wing strut detached from the plane. The air traffic controller watched through binoculars at the tower and saw the right wing fold when Smolinski tried to turn the plane. Without the wing support, the wing could not take the force of the turn. With one wing down, Smolinski could not control the plane and it crashed in a fiery explosion, likely not helped by the fact that the Pinto had a reputation for bursting into flames when it crashed.
Both Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake were killed in the crash. Investigations found that the Mizar was poorly designed and had loose parts. The welds attaching the wing support to the Pinto were poorly done which was likely the reason for the failure of the support in both test flights. Additionally, it was found that the weight of the Pinto with the engine was already over the gross weight of the Skymaster. The addition of passengers and fuel the weight far exceeded what the air frame was designed for.
With the devastating crash the Mizar project was scrapped and AVE was shut down. The Man with a Golden Gun was changed to no longer feature the Mizar and the flying Pinto was never attempted again. However, Smolinski did manage to create a car that could drive on the road, take off and land which was a massive accomplishment.
Capacity: Three passengers and 1 pilot
Range: 1,000+ miles
Cruising Speed: 130 miles
Ceiling: 12,000 feet