Up, Up and Away! This 18-Rotor Drone Can Lift A Man Off The Ground

This week, German engineers experienced the “dawn of a revolution in urban mobility” as the first super-drone lifted a man in the sky in an exercise that opens the way for personal flights as daily commodities, with the potential of replacing taxis and public transportation #actionmagic

German company E-Volo saw its dream come true two days ago when its hybrid vehicle, part drone, part helicopter, took off in Germany with the CEO inside, as the official pilot. Volocopter looks like a super-drone, powered by an electric engine with flight controls offered by a “joystick” and a number of buttons. It looks and feels more simple than piloting a full-on helicopter. So, what does it feel to be in the air, at the board of a giant drone?

“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 is definitely a sublime feeling to lift off, fly the first few meters, 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 meters beneath me. So it’s definitely unbelievable what we’ve achieved here. It’s seriously unbelievable!”, said the CEO after the test.

This time, the Volocopter went up to 20-25 metres high at an average speed, but the engineers are eager to test its maximum potential at 62mph. If all works out, E-Volo believes their drone can be the starting point for air taxi services on “predetermined routes as airport shuttles or at sensible traffic nodes such as bridges”.