AU engineering takes flight
Flying car prototype lands students full-time jobs
It reads like a page right out of an episode of The Jetsons.
But not even George Jetson himself could’ve imagined that the science fiction of the 20th century would become a science feat carried out by Anderson University’s very own engineering students.
It started with an internship that piqued an interest.
Brayton Gust ’25, a junior at the time studying mechatronics engineering, landed a 2024 summer internship with Pete Bitar, of LEO Flight Corp., whose Pendleton-based company was developing practical human flight technology.
“Since then, it’s been 100%, I think anything flying is the coolest thing ever,” said Gust.
Gust’s internship continued into the fall of 2024 when Bitar graciously agreed to sponsor one of the engineering program’s senior projects: developing a manned drone prototype. Or, in layman’s terms, making a flying car.
Other senior projects tackled were equally ambitious: developing a radar for remote animal surveillance, designing a passive chlorination system for rural drinking water, and creating an autonomous ground delivery vehicle for AU’s campus.
Partnered with Patrick Taylor ’25, Caleb Osborne ’25, Payton McGriff ’25, and advised by Scott Kennedy, PhD. (MBA ’12) Gust began planning how he and his team would put a man in the air at the end of the academic year.
“The first semester was all about designing and thinking about how we wanted to do it initially,” said Taylor. “And then [the] second semester was more focused on just building everything.”
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing—at first, the group planned to use old spare parts Bitar had lying around his hangar to create a massive 4-motor “quadcopter.” But as the first semester came to a close, Gust and Taylor realized this wasn’t the path to success—if they continued, they’d have to custom-order a slew of parts to create a working machine.
Conveniently, around that time, LEO Flight Corp. retired the testing vehicle used during Gust’s internship the previous summer, which meant several high-quality electric jets would be collecting dust.
So, like all good inventors, they pivoted.
“The first week of January we went to [Bitar] and pitched a complete redesign of the whole thing, which at that point in the game, that’s really late to do that,” said Gust.
The last-minute shift meant it was pedal-to-the-metal for the spring semester; designing, planning, building, and executing over the course of just four months. But the tight timeframe didn’t faze Gust, Taylor, and team.
They also weren’t deterred when all of their hard work came down to the wire—Taylor spent the night at the hangar twice to ensure everything went according to plan, and the group even powered through all their phases of testing in a single day as the semester came to a close.
“[We] went from having it tied to the ground loosely with nobody in it trying to get it to fly stable on its own all the way up to flying it untethered with a person in it,” said Taylor.
There it was—a flying car, untethered, with a person in it. And the human guinea pig? It was Gust.
“[It] was the first time anybody’s flown some kind of this technology untethered,” said Gust.
An impressive line to add to any resume. But that wasn’t the only thing Gust got out of this ambitious project—both he and Taylor received full-time job offers from Bitar to continue their work.
Dr. Kennedy, advisor on the senior project, was hardly surprised.
“I’ve been a part of hiring people at one of the richest companies in the world,” said Dr. Kennedy. “… and I can say with 100% confidence that [Gust] and [Taylor] are the types of people that I would want to hire.”
“This project was a huge success for them and for us,” said Bitar, “… It was great to see them struggle through the challenges and eventually have success.”
Since last spring, Gust and Taylor have continued tweaking the same project at LEO Flight Corp., eventually evolving into the “LEO Solo JetBike” prototype, which was successfully flown, manned and untethered, in October.
The LEO Solo JetBike is the world’s first flying electric jet motorcycle, requiring no license to operate, capable of flight for 10-15 minutes at 60 mph on a single charge. It’s designed to fly out of small spaces while posing no danger to its surroundings.
“A lot of people are building air taxis and flying vehicles that go straight up and fly the way we fly, but they don’t have the clustered electric jets, so they don’t have the footprint we have, which means they’re both unsafe [with their open propellers] and they don’t fit in automotive infrastructure,” said Bitar. “… We have control, we have safety, we have redundancy and structural fit with the world that is built not around helicopters but around cars.”
LEO Flight Corp. is now accepting pre-orders for the LEO Solo JetBike, with delivery planned for the first quarter of 2026. Next up for Bitar and his team is the LEO Coupe, a two-seater with a range of 250 miles per charge and the ability to reach speeds up to 200 mph.
Practical flying cars are no longer exclusive to the Jetson family; thanks to LEO Flight Corp., with a footprint from AU’s Department of Engineering, they’re coming to a sky near you soon.
“The thing I love about AU’s engineering program is the hands-on nature of the instruction. Getting hands-on and iterating through projects is the best way to learn,” said Bitar. “Many colleges … don’t let their students touch anything practical until maybe their junior or senior year, and the stuff we did with [Gust] and [Taylor] and the others would be considered grad-school level project work at a minimum.”
“I do feel like AU … even though we’re a smaller program … you actually get to build something and you get to prove that you know what you know,” said Gust.
With LEO Flight Corp., Gust and Taylor have taken “Soar, Ravens, Soar” to new heights—literally.
About Anderson University
Anderson University educates students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 50 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 18 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult, graduate, and online programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized for excellence in business, computer science, cybersecurity, engineering, music, nursing, psychology, social work, and teacher education programs. Established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God, the university remains committed to its Christ-centered mission.
