Originally Posted by
oggers
So a year after their claimed date for a manned flight they have managed instead to fly a large drone that looks like the concept but cannot carry out the functions of the concept. Certification in 2018?
Electric drones doing VTOL is decades old news. The concept was for this thing to carry people and also the wings to fold away so it could drive along the highway. This "first test flight" was actually an RC model aircraft that could do neither. Boring.
According to their new timeline, first manned flights will take place in 2019 now. Well, I do remember the old one youŽre referring to ;-)
Additionally, the new pictures donŽt show the slightest chance of retractable "wings". Maybe they came across some serious physical issues with CG? On of the founders being an (inactive) glider pilot, I would have expected this encounter a few years earlier ;-)
What remains, is an electrical driven VTOL aircraft.
A five seater Lilium will presumably be bigger (in terms of wing span) than a comparable 5 PAX classical Heli in rotor diameter. I wonder, how they will get their "Lilium Pads" in downtown Manhattan...
But hey, theŽve got their investors, they seem to have some App (or at least some true image manipulation geeks).
IsnŽt that all youŽll ever need in modern business?
Thracian