Another company has jumped into the fray with a vertical take-off plane called the Lilium that can soar at 400 km/h (250 mph). We’d normally say they’re dreaming with the specs: A 10,000 foot ceiling, 500 km (310 mile) range and helicopter-like takeoffs, all on battery power. However, it’s hosted by a European Space Agency (ESA) incubator and the team from the Technical University of Munich plans manned tests next year.
The Lilium has wings and flies like a regular plane, but takes off like a helicopter by swiveling its ducted fan engines, much like DARPA’s VTOL X-Plane concept. The engines, batteries and controllers are all redundant for safety, and it can take off in a space as small as 50 x 50 feet. The inventors want to certify it in the light sport aircraft (LSA) category, meaning pilots with as little as 20 hours training could fly it in good weather conditions. To start with, though, it would be confined to airfields and take off like a regular airplane.
via Engadget
