Imagine having your own compact aircraft that you could utilize at any point. Or imagine calling an UberAir to come and pick you up and transport you across town. Those days could be upon us with the introduction of an 18-rotor electric aircraft named the Volocopter. An aircraft that looks like something out of a kid's party packet, the rotors are placed around a network of beams that are connected to a large round beam. The engineers at e-volo who are behind the Volocopter are boasting about the fact that it does not release any carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Credit: Gizmag
The entire thing weighs 992 lbs at take-off and has nine batteries powering the motors that can propel the aircraft to achieve 62 miles per hour in the air.
Alexander Zosel, the managing director of e-volo (the company that designed and built the aircraft), got to take the Volocopter out on its first flight. After it, he said: "The flight was totally awesome, the machine was absolutely reliable. The Volocopter immediately converted every movement I made with the joystick. The special thing with the Volocopter is that it is actually an aircraft that flies by itself. I can take my hands off the joystick, it stays in the air as if nailed there."
The team got the go-ahead to operate the vehicle from the German aviation authorities in February of 2016. according to Engineering.com. The team is also interested in selling the Volocopter commercially by 2018.
The future of manned personal vehicle mobility seems to be drawing closer due to this seemingly safe Volocopter solution. For the journey from design to the first manned flight, check the video below.
