2024-07-09 12:00:00
Equipped with 18 electric motors, the small machine will be able to transport a passenger (in addition to the pilot), at an altitude of between 150 and 300 meters, over a maximum distance of 21 kilometers. During the Olympic Games, the aim is to prove its value by creating several lines between the Olympic sites thanks to the four other vertiports in operation at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Le Bourget, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole.
While the Volocity has still not obtained its certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the flights will be limited to free demonstrations. A “permit to fly” (PTF), which is easier to obtain in order to have authorization to fly, should be used by both partners.
900 flights authorized until December 31
Running until December 31, 2024, the use of the vertiport at the Gare d’Austerlitz will only be permitted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at a rate of two movements per hour for a total of 900 flights. The fact remains that the project is not at all popular with Paris City Hall, which is studying the possibility of legal action. “This government no longer has any democratic legitimacy and it continues to go once morest the Paris Council,” says David Belliard, deputy mayor for Mobility, for whom the project is both anti-ecological and “very expensive.” For its part, the Environmental Authority has also published a very critical opinion highlighting its noise pollution, its energy consumption, the safety issues raised and its visual impact.
Reservations that are swept aside by ADP and Volocopter, who highlight its relevance for emergency medical transport, for patients or for grafts thanks to more capacious versions. “The Volocity offers superior safety compared to helicopters, thanks to greater redundancy of critical systemsrecently supported Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter. The machine would also only generate 10 to 20% of the noise pollution of a helicopter.” As for the cost of this means of transport, it should quickly decrease and might reach 3 or 4 euros per seat and per kilometer within five years.
In the meantime, the two partners have invited Emmanuel Macron to come and test the Volocity himself during the Olympic Games, thereby becoming… the first European to use it in real conditions.
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