A two-seat electric-battery-powered helicopter made a quiet landing on the runway at the Paris Air Show following a 15-minute flight.
These cutting-edge “flying taxis” are among the highlights of this year’s aerospace industry gathering as they get closer to the time when the general public can use them.
More than ten years after its initial test flight, the German company Volocopter’s VoloCity will make its next visit during the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, where it hopes to transport spectators throughout the French metropolis.
The 18-rotor aircraft can fly at a top speed of 110 kilometers per hour (68 miles per hour), and it can accommodate a pilot and a passenger.
The good news is that flying is relatively easy. Its computerized flight control system is quite sophisticated, according to VoloCity pilot Paul Stone, who previously tested fighter jets for the Royal Navy of Great Britain.
Helicopter and airplane pilots with extensive experience will receive training to fly the VoloCity, he said.
The irony is that because an airplane is so much easier to fly than, example, a helicopter, helicopter pilots will have to relearn a lot of really sophisticated abilities.
In order to prepare for the Olympics, Volocopter has been performing test flights around Paris for more than a year.
The business has been collaborating on the project with Groupe ADP, which runs the airports in Paris, RATP, the government of the Ile-de-France region, and other parties.
More than 20 flights covering 200 kilometers, according to ADP CEO Edward Arkwright, have taken place.
on addition to a heliport near Versailles and a “vertiport” set up on a barge on the Seine river in southeast Paris, the air taxi will operate between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and adjacent Paris-Le Bourget Airport.
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