An electric multi-rotor helicopter took its first flight in conventional air traffic near Paris on Thursday as it prepares for commercial flights from 2024. The Volocopter test plane, which resembles a large drone with eight rotors, took off with a passenger on board from Pontoise-Cormeilles airport near Paris and circled briefly while other planes were nearby.
Dirk Hoke, CEO of Germany’s Volocopter, said it would prepare its craft for certification in the next 18 months and said it hoped to launch short commercial flights by 2024, when the Summer Olympics are held in Paris. The company wants its two-seater planes to eventually take to the skies fully automated, with only passengers on board, but admits a lot of work was still needed in terms of infrastructure, airspace integration and public acceptance.
Test pilot Paul Stone said the digital fly-by-wire system and multiple rotors make it much easier to fly than a traditional helicopter.”In a helicopter, when you move one control, three things happen, and it’s like patting your head and rubbing your belly—it’s a coordination exercise. In this airplane, they remove all that difficulty, and it’s very simple control in every axis, that’s what makes flying easier,” he said.
Valérie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region around Paris, said the region has given financial support to the initiative because it wants to see the first passenger flight with vertical take-off and landing. “The development of low-altitude aviation for urban air mobility is an adventure full of promise,” she said in a statement. An electric multi-rotor helicopter took its first flight in conventional air traffic near Paris on Thursday as it prepares for commercial flights from 2024.
The Volocopter test plane, which resembles a large drone with eight rotors, took off with a passenger on board from Pontoise-Cormeilles airport near Paris and circled briefly while other planes were nearby. Dirk Hoke, CEO of Germany’s Volocopter, said it would prepare its craft for certification in the next 18 months and said it hoped to launch short commercial flights by 2024, when the Summer Olympics are held in Paris.
The company wants its two-seater planes to eventually take to the skies fully automated, with only passengers on board, but admits a lot of work was still needed in terms of infrastructure, airspace integration and public acceptance. Test pilot Paul Stone said the digital fly-by-wire system and multiple rotors make it much easier to fly than a traditional helicopter.
“In a helicopter, when you move one control, three things happen, and it’s like patting your head and rubbing your belly—it’s a coordination exercise. In this airplane, they remove all that difficulty, and it’s very simple control in every axis, that’s what makes flying easier,” he said. Valérie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region around Paris, said the region has given financial support to the initiative because it wants to see the first passenger flight with vertical take-off and landing. “The development of low-altitude aviation for urban air mobility is an adventure full of promise,” she said in a statement.
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