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" Steve Saint, 59, grew up in Ecuador in a family of missionaries, spending his summers in a Huaorani village in the Amazon. A decade ago, he started the Indigenous People&amp;#039;s Technology and Education Center (I-TEC), an &amp;quot;engineering ministry&amp;quot; based in Florida. Then Saint, who is a pilot, decided that I-TEC would build a flying car. (See &amp;quot;The Mission,&amp;quot; from our May &amp;#039;09 issue.) This is a field where dreamers can fruitlessly waste years, but Saint was confident that his machine would help the Huaorani get around their largely roadless world of rain forests and rivers. Now, it&amp;#039;s ready.       TRANSPORTATION: FLYING DUNE BUGGY     INNOVATOR: Steve Saint; I-TEC BRILLIANT IDEA: The first useful flying car, which will soon carry medicine and supplies to remote settlements in the Amazon.     Powered by a 128-hp engine, the 1100-pound Maverick can go 80 mph on pavement and then keep rolling over dirt tracks. When the road ends altogether, the pilot hoists a parachute up a carbon-fiber mast and shifts into flight mode, shifting power from the wheels to a five-bladed propeller in back. The Maverick can replace a days-long hike for medical help with a half-hour flight. Saint, who plans to start selling Mavericks within a year, sees users beyond the Amazon: &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re looking at the end-of-the-road marketplace--pipeline inspectors, ranchers herding cattle or checking fences.&amp;quot; The key, he says, is to keep the Maverick simple. &amp;quot;If we&amp;#039;re going to make this the Ford of flying cars, it has to be easy to fly.&amp;quot;      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a4650/4332920/>