(Samson Sky hopes to begin production of the Switchblade, shown in both drive and fly modes, in 2026 | Photos courtesy of Samson Sky)
Samson Sky is gearing up for large-scale production of the Switchblade Flying Sports Car — after finishing its first three production test vehicles in the coming months — as a result of two breakthroughs that its CEO Sam Bousfield describes as “an historic manufacturing shift.”
Sales of the street-legal, hybrid electric vehicle — which is high performance both on the road and in the air — already encompass 50+ countries and all 50 U.S. states, with more and more coming in from different parts of the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia at an accelerating rate. Bousfield and his team aim to deliver the first Switchblades next year. “We’re now taking off the gloves, seeing what we can do, and where we can do it,” he said.
According to Bousfield, the most time-consuming aspect of bringing the Switchblade to fruition was exploring a different process to make carbon fiber for the aircraft body. “It’s the lightest, strongest material possible (versus traditional metals such as steel and aluminum), but hideously expensive, toxic and tough to produce.”
A decade of research to find an alternative led to development of a new manufacturing process utilizing thermal plastic — which will enable the company to make their carbon fiber parts eight times faster and at half the cost. “It also has 100 percent less waste, is non-toxic for factory workers, and is fully recyclable,” Bousfield said.
The second breakthrough is a revolutionary, high-tech program at assembly facilities Samson is setting up around the country where customers can fulfill FAA requirements to build 51% of the aircraft they have purchased. Instead of needing specialized skills, buyers use computer-guided machinery to fabricate their parts. It’s as simple as pushing a button,” Bousfield said. “The machine does all the work. As a result. we’ve been able to cut our original projection of the customer’s time commitment from over three weeks down to just one week.”
After 15 years of unremitting work, Bousfield is understandably excited about moving Samson Sky into production mode — while still recalling earlier breakthroughs such as keeping the Switchblade from overturning, choosing an engine and creating the aircraft’s own transmission.
“We are fortunate — or darn lucky — in the choices we made,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of things right in going down this path to ensure a successful future for the Switchblade, and provide a benefit to society as well.”
