VERSAILLES, France (AP) — It was a tantalizing vision: autonomous flying taxis Spectators whizzing around Olympic Games in Pariswhose electric motors hum quietly through the cityscape and usher in a new era in public transport.
Delays in certification have dashed this dream. But the supporters of the Volocopter aircraft The plane that was supposed to carry the Olympics is not giving up. On Sunday they performed a test flight and marked the last day of the 2024 Olympic Games with a sunrise display over the magnificent grounds of the Palace of Versailles.
The aircraft was carrying baggage but no passengers when it took off from the gardens of Versailles, from where the first hot air balloon took off in 1783.
The Paris region had planned a small fleet of unmanned air taxis for the Olympic Games, to be operated by the German company Volocopter and the Paris airport authority ADP.
Five Olympic routes were planned, including a landing on a platform on the Seine – and Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke hoped that French President Emmanuel Macron would be its first passenger.
But ADP CEO Augustin de Romanet said on Thursday that it had not been possible to obtain certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency in time for the Games.
Manufacturer of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft – or eVTOL – remain convinced that the future belongs to them. Companies around the world are trying to get their models approved for flight.
Volocopter now hopes to be allowed to fly passengers over Paris when the next major event takes place there: the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral devastated by fire in December.
And the rivals want to make the vision of Olympic spectators hopping through the venues in autonomous flying machines a reality at the next Summer Games – in Los Angeles in 2028.
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Angela Charlton in Paris took part.
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AP Olympiad: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
