In fairness the Velocopter was extremely quiet – 67 dB is a number I remember. It spent a lot of time (well not more than 20 minutes) zizzing around but it was so small and so quiet that nobody really noticed. It was a LOT quieter than anything else flying – the Rafale on afterburners for sure, but everything else too. It was a lot quieter than say an R22 would have been.
I guess the safety logic is that there is no single point of failure – the rotors are completely independent and I guess failure of one or a small number of them is a non-event. But as multi-engine aircraft often demonstrate, independent systems often manage to find a single point of failure anyway – the battery being the obvious one for the dronocopters.
Not only do they have no useful endurance without some miracle 5-10x capacity battery technology, they are also a ‘solution’ looking for a problem.
If you want to save the planet or generally be sustainable and have as low a carbon footprint as possible, then arrange your life such that you travel as little as possible. New and exciting ways of travelling are a red herring.
johnh wrote:
being able to do amazing things like move injured people rapidly in a congested city. (Hmmm, I thought helicopters were pretty good at that).
This is one thing helicopters are not good at. They’re great for picking up injured hikers, farmers who have been gored by bulls, or motorcyclists who crash next to fields. However within a city (European cities at least) they often can’t land very close to where they need to be. Often they have to land so far from where they need to be, that you need an ambulance to transport the patient to the helicopter, and perhaps police to protect the helicopter and random members of the public from one another.
@kwif quite agree but all this applies to dronocopters too. They also need somewhere flat, secure and big enough to land. Maybe they do less damage t the surroundings than a helicopter if they get it wrong, but all the same arguments apply.
I wonder how much downdraft they make. If anything it should be more fierce, weight for weight, than a helicopter. There was a lady killed in Cardiff by being blown over by a helicopter landing on a nearby helipad.
Personally I see ambulance services as a potentially good use-case for drones. They have a smaller footprint, shielded rotors. I can imagine drones being able to land in areas that helicopters couldn’t. In my rural area it can take 90 minutes for an ambulance to travel 10 miles…
Paul Bertorelli of AvWeb offers yet another analysis of the subject as of today: Electric Airplanes: Bailing Out?
This has just been published by Sandown EGHN on the Isle of Wight
The guy installing it says: between £0.70 – £0.90 per kWh. I don’t know how that compares with EV car public points but they do work out similar per mile to my VW diesel.
The reality is that very few electric planes can reach EGHN 
Someone posted on FB
“max range 50min” on the Pipistrel website, there is a link to their documentation portal, but there is no POH for the Pipistrel Velis on there, so I have no clue if that is 50 minutes with a 45 minute reserve or not … nor can I guess if that is at MTOW or with a midget with an eating disorder in the pilots seat.
£0.70 – £0.90 per Kw/h is far to expensive IMO to get the masses to switch to EVs.
The FFA here have been running a testing programme within clubs using the Pipistrel Virus
There are some good points and some bad points. One of them did an emergency circuit and landiing recently (reported in FFA Rex) due to a battery overheat warning light coming on.
Turned out to be faulty sensor.
Speaking to people flying them they are very good for circuits and training flights to airfields close by and back.
Club presidents and members at fields a little further away, than 10nm have been left disappointed when the Velis has failed to turn up at their open days due to lack of charge.
The electric Cri Cri does better, but not much. But the Cri Cri is much more fun.😁
