Sam Bousfield, inventor of the Switchblade™ spoke to a crowd during a forum at the recent Golden West Regional Fly-In and Air Show in Yuba City with a scale model at his side.   What if you owned a vehicle that could take you "down the road" as well as up, up and away, into the friendly skies? Parked in your home garage, it would await your plans for a road and/or air trip. Just pack, load and go. Forget about long waiting lines at the airport terminal. No more boarding passes and passing through security. No sitting at the departure gate hoping your plane leaves on time. You can get above all of that without leaving the comfort of your own vehicle. The Switchblade™ Multi-mode Vehicl

Don Campbell, a pilot for more than 30-years, took several members of the press thousands of feet in the air Thursday morning. He pointed out different landmarks and roads where the Amgen Tour of California will be held Sunday. The roughly 30-minute flight passed over Auburn, Grass Valley and Nevada City. The number of pilots in the air has been free-falling in the last few years, he said. Campbell, Sierra Vista Aviation founder and flight instructor, said 70 percent of flight students worldwide don't finish their flight training. "It boils down to the economics," he said, adding that completing pilot training can cost up to $7,500. Add that to the cost of fuel at $4.95 per gallon and th

A high-speed rail connecting Sacramento with the Bay Area could take years, if not a decade. But on Sam Bousfield's flying motorcycle, you would be able to make it to the Bay in less than 45 minutes. Bousfield's Meadow Vista-based company Samson Motorworks is currently creating a prototype of the hybrid motorcycle/airplane. The Switchblade Multi-Mode Vehicle is a two-passenger three-wheeled motorcycle with fully retractable wings that turns it into a plane. Well, at least it will be, said Bousfield, who hasn't yet actually built a working model. This Saturday, he will bring a quarter-scale model of his imagined vehicle to the California Auto Museum's "Born To Ride" exhibit, which will b