7 April 2016
VIDEO The 18-rotor electrically powered Volocopter VC200 has made its first manned flight. e-volo, the company behind the two-seat aircraft, made the first flight on 30 March with managing director Alexander Zosel at the controls.
“The flight was totally awesome,” said Zosel said right after his landing. “The machine was absolutely reliable, there were no vibrations, it was tremendous.
“I got in, we did the pre-checks for what felt like maybe 20 seconds, and after that I’d already got the all-clear for flying. I didn’t wait long, I simply pushed the lever upward and the Volocopter simply sprung upward in a single bound.
“It was unbelievable, it hovered totally weightlessly, I mean it didn’t at all feel like there were crazy forces at work, it was all just totally light and the Volocopter immediately converted every movement I made with the joystick. It is definitely a sublime feeling to lift off, fly the first few metres, and then actually take my hand off the joystick and think that, yeah, it’s really as if I’m standing on the ground, and then I look down and there are 20-25 metres beneath me. So it’s definitely unbelievable what we’ve achieved here.”
The Volocopter is flown one-handedly with a single joystick. e-volo says it significantly reduces the number one reason for accidents in conventional helicopters: human error. To demonstrate this feature, Zosel released his hand from the joystick to applaud his team during the premiere flight, while the Volocopter automatically held its position.
A comprehensive redundancy concept compensates any failure by critical components including the loss of several motors. This was demonstrated exhaustively during the certification process. Technology assistance was provided by German drone manufacturer Ascending Technologies, which has recently been acquired by US chip maker Intel Corporation.
e-volo MD Alexander Zosel at the controls of the Volocopter during its first manned flight.
“Intel congratulates e-volo on this accomplishment,” said Josh Walden, senior vice president and general manager of the New Technology Group at Intel. “Technology developed by Ascending Technologies assists in the flight controls, motor electronics and key elements that extend multi-rotor UAV technology to this new type of aircraft. We look forward to aiding the development of more manned and unmanned vehicles in the future.”
Through the shareholding position of Ascending Technologies, Intel Capital has now become a direct shareholder in e-volo.
e-volo’s next goal is to receive type certification and to produce the Volocopter in large quantities over the next two years for the sport flying market. e-volo is also eyeing air taxi work, such as airport shuttles.
Quiet and easy to fly – that’s the claims being made for the electric Volocopter.
The first flight of Alexander Zosel marks the beginning of the Volocopter test flight program, which will be conducted in three phases. In the first flight phase, flights at a speed of 25km/h maximum at low altitude are planned. In the second testing phase, flight manoeuvres at a speed of 50km/h at medium altitude will be executed. Test flights within the third testing phase aim to validate the system at higher altitudes and in the full speed range of the VC200 up to 100km/h.
