Airbus has released new video footage of its CityAirbus eVTOL demonstrator conducting free flight testing at its facilities in Donauwörth, Germany.
Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even shared the video on his personal Twitter account on June 17, describing the fully electric multicopter as “a key element in our innovation roadmap in order to develop the techno-bricks necessary for achieving sustainable aviation.”
The video shows flight test engineers (wearing masks as a precaution against COVID-19) monitoring the progress of the hovering flight from a control room as Even looks on outside.
According to an Airbus spokesperson, the June 17 flight was the first CityAirbus test flight to be witnessed by Even, but was otherwise a normal event in the aircraft’s ongoing test campaign.
While the company still plans to relocate CityAirbus to Manching, Germany, later this year for more extensive flight testing, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the progress of the campaign, the spokesperson said.
Nevertheless, the company remains committed to the program, telling eVTOL.com last month, “Airbus considers new forms of air transport such as UAM [urban air mobility] an opportunity to develop key technologies for the future of VTOL platforms, including electric flight and autonomy.”
I am Glad to see such Swift Progress in this Quickly emerging E-VTOL industry, it always seemed to me that scaling up modern drone technology for manned flight was inevitable anyway.
If Airbus Really wants to Earn Public Acceptance of their Air Taxi, they should get together with Airspeeder and build their Own factory racer to compete against them-while sharing their technology to advance the state of the art as the Main Goal.
Just a thought, racing always advances technology in the automotive industry, as it also did for the fledgling Aviation industry in the days following the first World War:
It was the Schneider Cup that inspired Rolls Royce to build the Merlin after all, why not do the Same with the Air Taxi generation of manned drones? Best way to Prove their Safety and Utility- And Performance- is through Meaningful Competition.
Besides, it would be Great Entertainment as well: Racing Always generates Big Revenue, which in turn funds Improvement…
What racing fan WOULDN’T want to see an Airspeeder race with Airbus, Boeing, Cessna- Maybe a Mig or Sukhoi design entered into this race series would Really make the E-VTOL industry take off- Pun Intended.