Weird Helicopter with 18 Propellers Takes-Off For the First Time

Posted on the 26 November 2013 by Nrjperera @nrjperera

I’ve always imagined that the helicopters of the future would fly without propellers or at least have less propeller than today’s helicopters. Although, it seems like I was wrong. Future helicopters will probably have many more propellers because this weird-looking Volocopter VC200 has 18 propellers.

This is the world’s first all-electric helicopter developed by E-Volo. The quadcopter style helicopter recently took its debut flight in a small hangar in Karlstuhe and it was a huge success. According Popular Science, the developer team flew the Volocopter using remote controls and it was landed and taken off nine times, making a total 20 minutes of airtime.

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This helicopter is still in development. E-Volo hopes the production version of Volocopter will be able to hit a speed of 54 knots,  flying up to at 6,500 feet, and it will be capable of carrying up to 992 pounds (450 kilograms). It will also have a flying time of an hour, thanks to a powerful battery. The specs are considerably lower than a common commercial helicopter, which usually sports about 120 knots speed and about 9,500 lb (4,3oo kg) take-of weight. Well, I guess there’s a start for everything.

Check out the video for some action.



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