Future Flight: Volocopter
Rotors galore, and an underslung pax pod
By moving its single-joystick flight control, you can control the differential speeds of the motors and their rotors, creating movements in roll, pitch, and yaw. A multi-redundant flight control system, connected by fiber-optic cables, consists of more than 100 microprocessors, plus independent units with positioning sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers for all three axes of flight.
Should any of the rotor units fail, Volocopter says that others will compensate. Those 18 rotor units are driven by nine rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which Volocopter says can be swapped out for freshly charged batteries in five minutes.
The company says that commercial flights of the Volocopter will begin in 2022. The idea is to provide inter-city and airport shuttle flights for up to two passengers and hand luggage. So far, there have been demonstration flights in Singapore and Dubai. When the aircraft becomes operational passengers will use a Volocopter app to book flights out of strategically located VoloPorts.
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