Flying Taxi Makes Quiet Paris Debut --- Electric aircraft's debut nearly goes unnoticed amid din of Air Show.

"LE BOURGET, France -- One of the hottest new aircraft is having a muted debut at the world's premier aviation showcase.

Turns out, it is too quiet.

Executives at Volocopter, the German developer of a flying taxi it hopes will ferry visitors around the City of Light at next year's Summer Olympics, showcased a prototype of the aircraft here at this year's Paris Air Show.

But this is a thunderously loud trade fair, where screeching jet fighters, thumping attack helicopters and roaring airliners turn heads and interrupt conversations.

The electric VoloCity, with its halo of 18 small, softly whirring rotors atop a two-person cabin, went largely unnoticed as it lifted off and traveled along the runway of the small airport northeast of Paris that hosts the show every two years.

Would-be spectators didn't look up from their phones when it whizzed by. Chitchat among the aerospace executives, military brass and government officials gathered here continued unabated at takeoffs and landing.

"The air conditioning was louder than the aircraft, so some people missed it," said Dirk Hoke, Volocopter's chief executive. He had to alert investors, suppliers and business partners to the flying taxi's scheduled flight demonstration.

Another hurdle in getting buzz here: Volocopter's flying taxi doesn't perform any tricks. Military helicopters dance and spin in the air, while passenger jetliners take sharp turns. Jet fighters dart up, down and around.

"You don't actually want to be showing off the flight controls," said Brian Yutko, CEO of Wisk, a Boeing-owned startup developing a rival flying taxi. "It's extremely silent. It's extremely simple. It's kind of boring in a way, and that's the point."

Conventional helicopters' whipping blades and roaring engines make them a harder sell for ferrying passengers short distances in urban areas. So, in most places other than at air shows, quieter is better for air taxis.

Volocopter is still seeking approval from European regulators to begin operating its taxi service by next summer, in time for the Olympics, hoping to fly five aircraft from five landing sites across the city. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency needs to sign off and is requiring that the aircraft meet certain sound and safety standards.

VoloCity's quiet debut at the show was music to the ears of Patrick Ky, executive director of EASA, who was making the rounds here. "Every time I see them fly, I'm very impressed," he said. "I saw it -- I could not hear it."

But it isn't all about the sound. Ky said European regulators are requiring the new aircraft to meet the same stringent safety levels of commercial airliners. "We have quite a conservative approach," he said.

An EASA spokeswoman said the agency was taking into account risks to passengers and people on the ground in densely populated areas. The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, said it is working closely with its European counterpart to harmonize certification standards.

Hoke, Volocopter's CEO, said that, for now, the company isn't aiming to replace metro systems or bus routes, but instead to provide more options for commuters. The company hasn't disclosed its pricing model, and the aircraft's limited routes and capacity -- one pilot and one passenger -- might curb broad use initially.

A handful of developers are racing to build similar flying taxis, technically called "electric vertical takeoff and landing" vehicles -- or eVTOLs. Minimizing sound is key.

Adam Goldstein, CEO of U.S. flying taxi company Archer Aviation, hopes his company's aircraft will be ferrying passengers at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He says his vehicles make even less noise than VoloCity. "It's more of a whooshing air sound," Goldstein said." [1]

In Lithuania, crap flies from the presidency to the government and back. No wonder Darwin said we are related to gorillas and chimpanzees. At least this is true in Vilnius.

1.  Business News: Flying Taxi Makes Quiet Paris Debut --- Electric aircraft's debut nearly goes unnoticed amid din of Air Show. Tangel, Andrew; Downs, George. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 23 June 2023: B.3.