Errymath: Volocopter

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The Volocopter uses 18 rotors.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">A German firm has revealed a radical design for a personal helicopter it says could be the future of transport.</span></div>
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<span id="ext-gen154" style="font-size: 1.2em;">The Volocopter uses 18 rotors, which its inventors say make it 'safer simpler and cleaner' that current designs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The
 firm behind it says its first manned flight is about to take place - 
and hopes it could change the way we travel, replacing both planes and 
cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The initial two-seat design uses battery packs, with a flight-time duration of only about 20 to 30 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">It will be certified for sport flying, Alexander Zosel told Wired , and he plans to sell the copters for about $340,000.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">He's also working to develop a hybrid power system that would extend flight time to over one hour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The
 Volocopter by e-volo is a completely novel, vertical take-off and 
landing (VTOL) manned aircraft, which cannot be classified in any known 
category,' his firm says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The fact that it was conceived of as a purely electrically powered aircraft sets it apart from conventional aircraft.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Through the use of its many propellers, the Volocopter can take off and land vertically like a helicopter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">A
 considerable advantage, apart from the simple construction without 
complex mechanics, is the redundancy of drives, which enables the safe 
landing of the volocopter even if some drives fail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The aim is to change the mobility for a lot of people, not only for fun,' Zosel says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'For transportation, and for getting work done.'</span></div>
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<img alt="Lift-off! The inventors celebrated last month as it made its maiden flight. Since then they have raised £1m" class="blkBorder img-share" height="422" id="i-9e940e4d" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A8E3D00000578-75_634x422.jpg" width="634" /><div class="share-pictures-overlay" id="share-pictures-2">
  
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Lift-off! The inventors celebrated last month as it made its maiden flight. Since then they have raised £1m</div>
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<img alt="Eco-friendly: It is the world's first two-seater helicopter to be powered purely by electricity, and much quieter" class="blkBorder img-share" height="423" id="i-ac050e82" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A89BA00000578-745_634x423.jpg" width="634" /><div class="share-pictures-overlay" id="share-pictures-3">
  
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Eco-friendly: It is the world's first two-seater helicopter to be powered purely by electricity, and much quieter</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">With its white spiderweb design and 18 rotors humming gently, it looks like it was plucked straight from a science fiction book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">This
 is the world's first electric two-seater helicopter, which could soon 
be flying over your house after online investors raised £1 million in 
just three days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Instead
 of a traditional combustion engine, it uses an battery pack on the back
 of the aircraft to power the 18 rotors arranged on top.<span class="mol-style-bold"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Its inventors say it will be the most environmentally-friendly helicopter ever created.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">They also claim it will be the world's safest because it is unlikely to crash if a rotor fails.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The 
design is so unusual that authorities in Germany, where it is being 
developed, have had to invent a new class of aircraft for it to get a 
license to fly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">When
 the Volocopter VC200 is completed, it will be able to fly at 6,500ft 
for up to an hour weighing a maximum of 450kg including crew and kit, 
about half the weight of a Nissan Micra.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">After
 the successful test flight last month, inventors Thomas Senkel, 
Alexander Zosel and Stephan Wolf put out an online plea before Christmas
 for money from internet investors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Their
 'crowdfunding' attempt on the website seedmatch.de was so successful it
 smashed all records in Germany - earning them 500,000 Euros in just two
 and a half hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">By
 the time they reached their total of 1.2 million Euros (£1m) in three 
days, nine hours and 52 minutes, they had been handed money by 750 
different investors ranging from 250 to 10,000 Euros.</span></div>
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<img alt="Engineering: The team in Karlsruhe has taken several years and millions of Euros to advance the design this far" class="blkBorder img-share" height="332" id="i-ab310e7a" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A8E3900000578-983_634x332.jpg" width="634" /><div class="share-pictures-overlay" id="share-pictures-4">
  
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Engineering: The team in Karlsruhe has taken several years and millions of Euros to advance the design this far</div>
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<img alt="Success! The inventors sit inside their creation, with one wearing a t-shirt bearing the craft's odd design" class="blkBorder img-share" height="423" id="i-9d8d0e41" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A897E00000578-51_634x423.jpg" width="634" /><div class="share-pictures-overlay" id="share-pictures-5">
  
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Success! The inventors sit inside their creation, with one wearing a t-shirt bearing the craft's odd design</div>
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<img alt="Coming to Britain? Anyone with a pilot's license can fly the craft, which is being primed for mass production" class="blkBorder img-share" height="370" id="i-9c5b0e39" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A894600000578-96_634x370.jpg" width="634" /></div>
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Coming to Britain? Anyone with a pilot's license can fly the craft, which is being primed for mass production</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The idea has been several years in the planning and previously won a </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">2 million Euro (£1.7m) grant from Germany's </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">federal ministry of economics and technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Test flights </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">were </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">conducted in Karlsruhe, Germany, including of a 16-rotor prototype last year with room for just one brave pilot.</span></div>
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Prototype: A test version of the helicopter last year had room for just one precariously-placed pilot</div>
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For the test version, the VC1, the pilot had to sit in the open air on top of a metal ball containing the batteries</div>
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<img alt="Soaring success: The Volocopter's inventors celebrate after their prototype made its maiden flight" class="blkBorder img-share" height="376" id="i-8e630dfc" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/26/article-2529542-1A4A893300000578-0_634x376.jpg" width="634" /><div class="share-pictures-overlay" id="share-pictures-8">
  
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Soaring success: The Volocopter's inventors celebrate after their prototype made its maiden flight</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Weighing
 just 80kg including the batteries, it was so small that the 
helmet-wearing pilot had to sit in the open air between the blades 
strapped into a tiny chair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Anyone with a private pilot's licence in Germany will be able to fly the revolutionary aircraft once it hits the mass market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Its
 inventors claim it is also simpler to fly than a traditional 
helicopter, with just one joystick controlling almost every aspect of 
flight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">The project has been handed a </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">provisional
 airworthiness certificate and its inventors hope it will get the 
sign-off from aviation authorities in the near future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">A statement by the firm said: '</span>T<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">he Volocopter is an absolutely novel aircraft which cannot be assigned to any existing aviation category.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'The greatest challenge after technical realisation is to be able to place such an aircraft on the market.'</span></div>
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<br /><i>By

Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com</i></div>
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Volocopter : 18 rotor electric craft revealed

The Volocopter uses 18 rotors. A German firm has revealed a radical design for a personal helicopter it says coul...

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Volocopter : 18 rotor electric craft revealed

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