Volocopter conducts first eVTOL flight at the Palace of Versailles
Volocopter has conducted the world’s first eVTOL flight test within the World Heritage Palace of Versailles, concluding its multi-operational validation test campaign at the Aerodrome of Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole and Versailles.
As the Paris Olympic games drew to a conclusion with the customary closing ceremony, German eVTOL manufacturer was also staging its own spectacle: the world’s first ever electric vertical take-off and landing flight test (conducted with its two-seat Volocity craft) within the Palace of Versailles. Although admittedly a change of plan from the company’s earlier plans to offer sightseeing tourist flights, Volocopter nevertheless plan to return to conduct further flights in Paris later this year.
As dawn broke against the “iconic backdrop of the Grand Trianon and its surrounding gardens,” Volocopter’s aircraft took to the skies in a major milestone for the manufacturer; witnessed by longstanding partners Groupe ADP and the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) who Volocopter note “worked relentlessly to orchestrate this successful flight”.
“The sustainable air mobility community is still at the start line, but today’s flight in this exceptional environment was the perfect closing ceremony to our summer, and we look forward to returning to Paris very soon,” explained Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke.
Other crewed test flights in the preceding days (conducted from a bespoke commercial vertiport at Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole) marked “over three years of collaborative efforts between Volocopter and Groupe ADP to achieve multiple regulatory approvals on infrastructure and aircraft,” explained Volocopter, with the commencement of the operational validation phase intended to “mature the eVTOL system in France”.
Although Volocopter had previously announced its intention to fly commercial passenger trips during the upcoming Olympics at the 2023 Paris Air Show, “we achieved our objective to fly in Ile-de-France during this exceptional summer,” commented Groupe ADP deputy CEO Edward Arkwright. He added his conviction that although passenger rides are not yet possible (as “innovation in the field of aeronautics needs tome to remove obstacles regarding safety”), eVTOLs will nevertheless “offer helpful services that go way beyond the needs of the passenger”.
Hoke added that Volocopter “still aspire to fly at the Austerlitz vertiport later this year,” one of a select handful of locations initially earmarked for Olympic demonstration flights.
