Volocopter First to Conduct Crewed eVTOL Flights Ready for 2024 Olympics

by | Apr 8, 2022

VOLOCOPTER FIRST CREWED FLIGHTS

Volocopter has become the first eVTOL developer to conduct both crewed and remotely piloted test flights in France in preparation to begin flying at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The crewed flights were part of a week-long urban air mobility (UAM) test campaign that will give Volocopter and its partners – Groupe ADP and RATP Group – key insights for subsequently launching the UAM industry in 2024. Volocopter’s full-scale testing prototype, the 2X, was used to perform successful flight tests at Pontoise airfield in Paris to measure the aircraft’s noise emissions. This data will be used by the company’s partners to shape the future of urban air mobility services in and around Paris.

Volocopter first flew its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in France uncrewed at the Paris Air Forum held in June 2021. It was here that the CEO, Florian Reuter, heralded the successful flight as a “commitment to bring air taxi services to this region (Paris) in time for the 2024 Olympic Games”. A month later, Volocopter became the first to get design and production approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency after acquiring DG Flugzeugbau, a composite aircraft producer.

Christian Bauer, Chief Commercial Officer of Volocopter, commented on the crewed flight: “We have demonstrated our pioneering power once again here in Paris. By flying our aircraft in a crewed configuration at a Paris airport, we are proving to one of our launch cities firsthand that our aircraft will offer a practical addition for potential airport-to-city routes”.

UAM refers to a subcategory of advanced air mobility (AAM) and how advanced aircraft (i.e., eVTOLs) can operate in and around cities. Seen as an addition to existing transportation options, UAM supports the development of environmentally friendly mobility solutions and will offer cities worldwide a mix of urban multimodal transportation systems.

The UAM testing sandbox at Pontoise airfield by Volocopter was designed to address the challenges of this new form of mobility by assessing UAM solution use, acceptability, regulations, technologies, and industrialization. The company noted that the airfield also offered a “real and secure aeronautical environment” in a suburban area, 35 km northwest of Paris.

The first crewed flight by Volocopter adds to the excitement around the burgeoning eVTOL market which has recently seen rivals in the space like British firm, Vertical Aerospace, overfill its order book. Elsewhere, German eVTOL maker Lilium announced that it had begun flight testing with its 5th generation technology demonstrator, Phoenix 2. However, in a separate blog post on Lilium’s website, the company’s CEO revealed that it had adjusted its aim of receiving initial Type Certification from 2024 to 2025.

You can find more information about Volocopter and its first crewed flight on its website.

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