Aircraft

Volocopter floats over Singapore bay in "most advanced flight yet"

Volocopter floats over Singapore bay in "most advanced flight yet"
The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019
The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019
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The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019
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The Volocopter 2X made its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019
German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay
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German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay
The latest version of the Volocopter is the most powerful yet
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The latest version of the Volocopter is the most powerful yet
This very public outing for the Volocopter is described as its most advanced yet
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This very public outing for the Volocopter is described as its most advanced yet
A pilot was onboard and controlling the Volocopter 2X through the air using a joystick during a recent test flight in Singapore, although the vehicle is designed to eventually fly on its own
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A pilot was onboard and controlling the Volocopter 2X through the air using a joystick during a recent test flight in Singapore, although the vehicle is designed to eventually fly on its own
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German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay. This very public outing for the Volocopter is described as its most advanced yet, and the final hoop the flying taxi had to jump through to prove it can operate safely in the area.

Getting its start in Germany as a crowdfunded project way back in 2013, the Volocopter opened up its office in Singapore late last year with its sights set on introducing a commercial air taxi service in the area. Just yesterday, the company then revealed a prototype of its VoloPort, the terminal that passengers will use to board and hop off its flying taxis.

The latest version of the Volocopter is the most powerful yet, with the ability to cover 35 km (21 mi) on each charge and reach speeds of 110 km/h (68 mph), while taking two people along for the ride.

Before passengers start hopping aboard, however, the company is busy proving the safety and reliability of its rather audacious aircraft. Most recently, this involved months of intensive testing in Germany as the team put the new design through its paces, and then a further testing phase in the local Singaporean conditions.

A pilot was onboard and controlling the Volocopter 2X through the air using a joystick during a recent test flight in Singapore, although the vehicle is designed to eventually fly on its own
A pilot was onboard and controlling the Volocopter 2X through the air using a joystick during a recent test flight in Singapore, although the vehicle is designed to eventually fly on its own

The Volocopter 2X, as the model is known, then took off on its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay on Tuesday, covering a distance of 1.5 km (0.9 mi) over a two-minute jaunt, with an average cruising altitude of 40 m (131 ft).

A pilot was onboard and controlling the Volocopter 2X through the air using a joystick, although the vehicle is designed to eventually fly on its own, with passengers simply hopping aboard, punching in their destination and letting the autonomous flight software carry them away.

“The flight today in Singapore was the most advanced Volocopter flight yet and the piloted flight was as stable as ever,” says Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter. “At the same time, we are showcasing a prototype of our full-scale VoloPort Infrastructure, allowing for a realistic demonstration of air taxi boarding and maintenance services. Never before have people been this close to experiencing what Urban Air Mobility in the city of tomorrow will feel like.”

German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay
German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay

Volocopter also describes this as the “last trial of a demanding test series to verify and validate the ability of Volocopter air taxis to fly over the area,” though much more testing and development will be needed before we see these things take to the sky in a commercial sense. Still, with the support of Singapore’s government authorities, including its civil aviation regulator, the company continues to make good progress.

Check out the video of the Volocopter 2X over Marina Bay below.

Volocopter flight over Singapore's Marina Bay

Source: Volocopter

View gallery - 5 images
3 comments
3 comments
Booleanboy
Nice, steady flight. I wonder what the flight time is before that battery pack reaches boiling and how long it takes to cool down afterwards.
Towerman
Excellent and a very stable touch down ! Congratulations Volo.
Now lets churn them out by the dozens and get the skies populated ASAP !

WRT battery @ Boolanboy. The battery will never reach anywhere near boiling point, one can easily monitor each individual cell every split second of the flight.

The system will automatically take the correct redundant action should at all ever a threshold is exceeded, that accounts for if a problem occurs with any of the redundant systems too, umongst other temperatures battery temps is also displayed in realtime.

With batteries advancing quickly i can safely say that charging times gets better every month. you'd probably be able to charge within 30-40 minutes.
This for a first generation VTOL battery is extremely good. From here onwards the advancements is limitless !! Well done VOLO !
guzmanchinky
I'm SO glad they did the video with real sound and not music. Is it as loud as a helicopter? It sounds quieter because of no jet turbine noise, but the rotors sound similar. It would be easy to fit a ballistic recovery parachute system right in the middle on top, it looks like, if desired. If this thing had a range of one hour, and maybe a folding rotor disc I'd be in line to buy one!