In an industry-first, Volocopter, the designer of the VoloCity electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has announced the certification of a training centre in Germany.
The German Federal aviation office, Luftfahrtbundesamt, has certified Volocopter Air Services to train pilots for its future products. The company is the first electric take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer to receive Approved Training Organisation (ATO) certification and allows Volocopter to deliver training towards pilot licences. It is not currently known what licences this will involve.
Oliver Reinhardt, chief risk and certification officer of Volocopter, said, “This is another substantial milestone on the way to bring electric air taxis to cities around the world. It bears witness to the robust aviation company Volocopter has become over the past decade and how diligent and professional our entire team works.”
Volocopter was the first eVTOL company to receive Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2019, and this latest certification brings more reality to the concept of eVTOL use for urban air mobility. In a statement Volocopter said it expected the, “commercial launch of electric air taxis later this year”.