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Spoiler Alert: This page contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. |
The Air-Car is a self-driving electric car in the form of a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) that is capable of using Flying Magic developed by the Yotsuba Clan.
Background[]
The development of the Air-Car begun in 2095 at the same time with Wingless. On April 2097, Shiba Tatsuya devised a new Flying-Type Magic plan for mass vehicles, however he was so busy working on various things especially Project ESCAPES that he handed the rough plan as it is to the Yotsuba Technical Department and put the plan on hold as he does not expect it to bear fruit. By May, the development of the Air-Car is completed with help from Tatsuya's draft and a light blue painted two-seat prototype of the Air-Car is shown to him by Hanabishi Hyougo a month later on Miyaki Island while Tatsuya was inspecting its new facilities. [1]
The Air-Car's maximum speed while hovering on water is 400 km/h which is quite low compared to commercial aircrafts. [2] On the air, it can go up to 900 km/h when Tatsuya is driving alone [3] but when Miyuki handles the stealth control, Tatsuya can concentrate on the driving and the speed can reach 1,000 km/h in a blink of an eye. The underwater speed is also 400 km/h because the Air-Car forms an air cocoon to reduce resistance while moving similarly used by the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion's Mobile Suit and USNA Thrust Suit. [4]
First Model[]
While testing the Air-Car, the engineers also mention that it can travel on outer space and underwater since the doors are built to slide backwards and the window panes are thick and fixed for increased air tightness. Upon learning the capabilities of the Air-Car, Angelina Kudou Shields questions if she can still return to the USNA after seeing such military secrets but Tatsuya assures her that it is not and the Yotsuba Clan is mainly a research organization and at this point, Tatsuya uses the Air-Car as his transport to and from Miyaki Island. [5]
When Stars attacks Miyaki Island to search for Lina, Tatsuya could travel from Chofu to Miyaki Island in 10 minutes using the Air-Car's subsonic speed but is unable to do so while within the city limits of Tokyo so he arrives at 20 minutes. [6]
Second Model[]
The second model of the Air-Car is used during Tatsuya's raid on Midway Prison to rescue Benjamin Canopus which have four seats and a large number of installed military equipment. A distinctive feature of the new Air-Car is improved stealth efficiency thanks to the artificial Relic's function to store magic sequences and making the Air-Car capable of a low powered but highly effective magic for hiding electromagnetic waves and isolating sound waves that lasts up to 12 hours in a row. After the rescue, the Air-Car is fully recharged in less than 10 minutes and Tatsuya proceeds to the next part of his mission. [7]
During the flight towards Pearl and Hermes Atoll Base where Sakurai Minami is located, the Air-Car is intercepted by ten USNA F-141 Eagle Owls which are the preferred fighter planes in USNA aircraft carriers who calls the Air-Car a UFO because it is shrouded in fog and does not emit heat waves while on flight. Tatsuya turns on the onboard CAD in the Air-Car which is completely separate from the flight device and uses Mist Dispersion to decompose the aircrafts leaving the pilot and their ejection seat to parachute to the sea. After defeating Stars soldiers Kevin Antares and Eliya Sargas who are parasites aboard the Destroyer Chevalier, the Air-Car is intercepted by The USNA Aircraft Carrier Shangri-la and two escort destroyers where Tatsuya decomposes "Mila-Davis", one of the destroyers leaving only its personnel to fall into sea and establishes contact with the Shangri-la. Tatsuya successfully negotiates with the captain of Shangri-la to allow him passage to Pearl and Hermes Atoll Base while Tatsuya will not hinder the Shangri-la's rescue of the Mila-Davis' crew at sea including the downed F-141 pilots from earlier. [8]
After rescuing Minami, the Air-Car flies back to Miyaki Island which takes seven hours to travel but more than enough for the Air-Car which can fly at least 10 hours. During the travel, USNA reconnaissance satellites detects the Air-Car on what looks like a haze-like shadow crossing the Pacific Ocean that they cannot identify and request approval from the National Security Council to capture or bring down the Air-Car. But Senator Wyatt Curtis secretly intervenes and denies the request with a cover up reason to avoid the risk of war with Japan, an allied state. [8]
When Lina plans to return to the USNA, she intends to use a USNA Thrust Suit instead having Tatsuya transport her to the Virginia with the Air-Car. Tatsuya however reasons that he isn't doing this out of kindness but even a small object like the Thrust Suit can be observed by military satellites. While the boarding of Virginia wouldn't be a problem while underwater, flying from Miyaki Island to the Virginia's rendezvous point in the middle of the western Pacific Ocean would incite suspicion that Tatsuya is Virginia's collaborator on the raid of Midway Prison and Pearl and Hermes Atoll Base thus Tatsuya prefers using the Air-Car's stealth function to avoid this. [4]