Intro: The day the joystick stole the steering wheel
If you’ve been waiting since Saturday morning cartoons for a flying car, congratulations. Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Neil just took one up for a spin—the Pivotal BlackFly—proving the future may not have wheels at all. In a recent piece, Neil describes training for a few days, grabbing a joystick, and lifting off in a craft that behaves less like a car and more like a supersized camera drone you can sit inside. It’s electric, it’s amphibious, it lands on its belly, and under U.S. ultralight rules it doesn’t require a pilot’s license. As first dates with the future go, that’s a pretty good oneWhat exactly is the BlackFly?
Think “personal air vehicle” more than “roadable car.” The Pivotal BlackFly is a single-seat, battery-powered eVTOL: eight electric motors, two short wings (front and rear), and a carbon-composite pod for you and your helmet. It takes off vertically, then tilts its entire airframe forward to fly on the wings, cruising around a neighborhood-speed 55–63 mph with a typical 20-minute/20-mile envelope (plus reserve). The whole craft weighs under the ultralight limit, which keeps it in the FAA’s Part 103 category—meaning no pilot’s license or medical certificate, but also strict rules about where, when, and how you fly. [Sources: Pivotal newsroom; Wikipedia]

Dan Neil’s “I did it and survived to write about it” moment
Neil’s account reads like a seasoned auto journalist crossing into a new domain: VR sim time, ground school, then a supervised flight at a rural site near Watsonville, California. The control scheme is intentionally simple: a joystick for speed/turn, a rocker for climb/descend, and a trigger to switch between Hover and Cruise. His takeoff? Hold the toggle forward, let the computer choreograph eight motors in harmony, and up you go. He called the BlackFly a “glorious, wonderful toy”—high praise from a professional skeptic who’s driven everything from hypercars to hydrogen prototypes. [Sources: WSJ; People.com]

The rules of the sky (that keep your neighbors calm)
Before you picture rush-hour swarms buzzing over Main Street, a reality check: Part 103 ultralights can’t fly over congested areas, at night, or in bad weather. You’ll need open, uncontrolled airspace, cooperative winds, and a forgiving landing zone. That’s why Pivotal trains new owners and geofences operations. The BlackFly is engineered to feel “drone-like”—the onboard guidance and control software auto-stabilizes in gusts and can manage transitions—but the pilot is still ultimately responsible. Translation: this is recreation first, utility second. For now. [Sources: WSJ; People.com]

Why BlackFly matters anyway
Even with limits, several “firsts” are piling up. Pivotal says one BlackFly airframe alone has passed 1,000 crewed flights—a big trust signal for a new category. Meanwhile, Pivotal’s successor aircraft, the Helix, went on sale in 2024 with a base price around $190,000, promising better endurance and broader support. The arc here looks a lot like early electric cars: expensive, niche, range-limited—until compounding improvements make them feel inevitable. If you squint, BlackFly today is the original iPhone with 2G: magical, imperfect, and destined to get a lot better. [Sources: Pivotal newsroom; Yahoo Finance repost]

The experience vs. the commute
Will you replace your SUV with a BlackFly? Not this year. No wheels, no carry-on room for a Costco run, and the rules bar you from buzzing downtown. But the emotional payload is enormous. Neil’s story channels the sheer cognitive dissonance of floating up and pirouetting over the landscape with a twitch of your thumb. That feeling is why categories get born. Racing begat road cars; hang gliders begat paragliders; hobby drones begat stabilized cameras. Personal eVTOLs could be next—first as weekend joy machines, then as practical, certified craft with longer range, safer envelopes, and more capable autonomy.

Safety signals to watch
• Redundancy: Multiple motors and batteries with cross-connection, plus a ballistic parachute system for worst-case scenarios.
• Software maturity: The guidance/navigation/control stack is the secret sauce. Each software update is a potential leap in safety and ease-of-use.
• Training ecosystem: Short courses and sims lower the barrier, but scalable, standardized curricula will build confidence beyond early adopters.
• Regulations: Expect the FAA to tighten, then tailor, rules as more of these appear. Clear lanes for light eVTOLs are essential for mainstream acceptance. [Sources: Pivotal; WSJ; People.com]

Money talk: what it costs to meet the sky
Pivotal priced the Helix (the production follow-on) from about $190,000 when U.S. sales opened in January 2024. That’s supercar money, not super-commuter. But early pricing often hides the long game. Batteries are getting better, composite manufacturing scales, and training/insurance can standardize. The earliest models teach the industry what to build next—and what to never do again. [Sources: Pivotal newsroom]

A personal note on courage and recovery
Reading Neil’s “try the VR simulator, then go fly” narrative hit home. In my own recovery journey (shared at https://www.fitiqdevs.com/about-my-recovery), the biggest wins started as tiny, scary steps—standing up, taking a few strides, trusting the process. The BlackFly is a tech metaphor for that mindset: layered safeguards, short practice bursts, then a carefully managed leap. Whether your mountain is fitness, mental health, or learning a new skill, progress is usually electric and vertical—slow, then suddenly up.

The takeaway (and your next step)
The BlackFly won’t end traffic jams tomorrow, but it just made “personal flight” feel real, repeatable, and teachable. If you’re tech-curious, follow this space: watch for updated safety data, new endurance numbers, and how regulators carve airspace lanes for personal eVTOLs. In the meantime, bring that same curiosity to your daily health stack—five extra minutes of movement, a breathwork reset, or a new habit tracked with your favorite app. Small inputs, big lift. Stay hungry, stay safe, and keep your eyes on the horizon—because sometimes the future doesn’t drive in; it takes off.