Volocopter's plans to trial passenger flights in its striking electric air taxi from a floating platform on the River Seine during the Olympics have been thwarted by bureaucracy. However, the company has managed to kick off the eVTOL operational validation phase at a vertiport a few miles away.
That's right, the home of bureaucracy has put the brakes on trial flights during the 2024 Paris Olympics – due to certification delays centered around the motors powering the German company's 18-rotor electric vertical take-off and landing VoloCity aircraft we first encountered back in 2013.
Volocopter had partnered with the Paris regional government, the French capital's transport operator RATP and airport operator ADP to fly folks from a floating platform on the Seine – near the Austerlitz train hub – to other vertiports dotted around the city that have been built by ADP. But it was not to be, and the hope now is to have all issues resolved in time for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral later in the year.
Meanwhile, a few miles outside Paris, Volocopter has undertaken a crewed test flight at the first bespoke commercial vertiport at the Aerodrome of Saint-Cyr-l'École. This follows three years of collaborative efforts between the German air mobility company and French airport operator Groupe ADP, and signals the start of pre-commercial test series designed to validate the technologies.
The current program will test maneuvers to and from the vertiport, ground handling, air traffic control communications and battery charging setups. This round of test flights is due to conclude at the close of this weekend at the Palace of Versailles.
"We achieved our objective to fly in Ile-de-France during this exceptional summer," said deputy CEO of Groupe ADP, Edward Arkwright. "We also met the goal to deliver the first vertiport network, with the launch of the one in Saint-Cyr L’Ecole, which completes our network in Ile-de-France (alongside Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Le Bourget, Paris-Issy les Moulineaux, Pontoise). For now, test flights are carried out without passengers, but once the aircraft is certified, we will test emergency medical flights with AP-HP (Ile-de-France University Hospital Centre). Innovation in the field of aeronautics needs time to remove obstacles regarding safety, but we remain convinced that new carbon-free air mobilities around eVTOLs will offer helpful services that go way beyond the transportation of passenger."
The two-seat VeloCity air taxi has gone through multiple prototypes and more than 2,000 test flights over the last decade or so. The composite body is topped by a 9.3-m (30-ft) diameter circular frame that's home to 18 rotors, each driven by its own electric motor. According to the latest available specs, maximum airspeed is targeted at 110 km/h (68 mph) and operational range from its onboard Li-ion battery packs given as 35 km (22 miles), though not at full throttle. This aircraft will initially host pilot and passenger in the cabin, though autonomous flight is expected to feature at some point in the future.
Source: Volocopter
