Skip to main content

Watch this amazing 18-rotor super-drone lift a guy into the sky

German copter company E-Volo still has its CEO. Not that engineers had any doubts about the safety of the Volocopter’s recent first-ever manned flight, which the company’s boss bravely piloted.

The extraordinary drone-helicopter hybrid is essentially a two-seat flying machine that gets off the ground with the help of what looks like a large number of drones that’ve been welded together.

Recommended Videos

The “super drone” is powered by an electric engine, with precision control offered by little more than a joystick with a few buttons it.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Following a number of successful remotely controlled test flights, the company decided it was high time someone actually climbed inside the thing to see how it handled humans. Or, perhaps more accurately, how humans handled it.

Related Offer: Visionary Intelligence. Elevated Imagination. See the DJI Phantom 4 here

The responsibility fell to E-Volo boss Alexander Zosel, who presumably was as eager as his minions to find out if the Volocopter really did represent the “dawn of a revolution in urban mobility,” as the company so boldly claims. Although no one took the spare seat.

Fortunately, the test flight appeared to go as smoothly as a gentle kite flight on a breezy day, with Zosel confident enough to momentarily take both hands off the controls to offer his ground-based team a cheerful thumbs up.

Safely back on terra firma, Zosel was ecstatic: “The flight was totally awesome. The machine was absolutely reliable, there were no vibrations, it was tremendous….the first flight was simply unbelievable.”

The CEO said the flight pre-checks only took about “20 seconds,” after which he “pushed the lever upward and the Volocopter simply sprung upward in a single bound….[it] immediately converted every movement I made with the joystick….it’s definitely unbelievable what we’ve achieved here.”

While its maiden manned flight saw the unique copter keep to slow speeds and a fairly low altitude, future tests are likely to see the machine lift much higher and fly at its top speed of 62 mph (100 kmh).

The idea for the Volocopter was born back in 2010, with the first demonstration model taking to the skies a year later. E-Volo has clearly come a long way in that time, and the company has ambitions to produce the Volocopter in “large quantities” for the air sports market. It’s also looking at the possibility of air taxi services initially for “predetermined routes as airport shuttles or at sensible traffic nodes such as bridges.”

It may be a while before we see drone-helicopter hybrids like the Volocopter buzzing overhead, but if it does happen, E-Volo is keen to lead the way. Although this bonkers hobbyist may have something to say about that.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Hyundai Ioniq 5 sets world record for greatest altitude change
hyundai ioniq 5 world record altitude change mk02 detail kv

When the Guinness World Records (GWR) book was launched in 1955, the idea was to compile facts and figures that could finally settle often endless arguments in the U.K.’s many pubs.

It quickly evolved into a yearly compilation of world records, big and small, including last year's largest grilled cheese sandwich in the world.

Read more
Global EV sales expected to rise 30% in 2025, S&P Global says
ev sales up 30 percent 2025 byd sealion 7 1stbanner l

While trade wars, tariffs, and wavering subsidies are very much in the cards for the auto industry in 2025, global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are still expected to rise substantially next year, according to S&P Global Mobility.

"2025 is shaping up to be ultra-challenging for the auto industry, as key regional demand factors limit demand potential and the new U.S. administration adds fresh uncertainty from day one," says Colin Couchman, executive director of global light vehicle forecasting for S&P Global Mobility.

Read more
Faraday Future could unveil lowest-priced EV yet at CES 2025
Faraday Future FF 91

Given existing tariffs and what’s in store from the Trump administration, you’d be forgiven for thinking the global race toward lower electric vehicle (EV) prices will not reach U.S. shores in 2025.

After all, Chinese manufacturers, who sell the least expensive EVs globally, have shelved plans to enter the U.S. market after 100% tariffs were imposed on China-made EVs in September.

Read more