http://www.e-volo.com/entwicklungs-news-en/successful-maiden-flight-of-the-worlds-first-green-helicopter

E-volo’s Volocopter is a revolution in aviation Made in Germany. Safer, simpler,
and cleaner than normal helicopters, it has a unique way of moving – a
groundbreaking innovation. The Volocopter is an environmentally friendly and
emission-free private helicopter. Instead of one combustion engine, eighteen
electrically driven rotors propel it.

The maiden flight and first test flights were conducted in the dm-arena in
Karlsruhe with the prototype of the 2-person VC200 on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
Based on this model, it will be prepared for series production in the coming
years. “There are already numerous requests for the Volocopter from around the
world,“ said Alexander Zosel, managing director of e-volo.

With multiple flights lasting several minutes reaching the nearly 22 m high
ceiling of the dm-arena, including a number of smooth takeoffs and landings, the
Volocopter concept exceeded all expectations. “Rich and incredibly quiet sound,
absolutely no noticeable vibrations in the flight, convincing structure with a
great, new spring strut landing gear, and an extremely calm rotor plane,“
concluded the e-volo managing director, thanking the KMK. “New innovations that
have the possibility to change our world are continually presented at the Messe
Karlsruhe. Therefore it was natural to work in partnership with the e-volo team
to enable the test flights in the dm-arena,“ announced KMK managing director
Britta Wirtz. “The fair is not just a display of strengths in the technology
field, but concretely supports pioneers of aviation as well.“

The developing team of e-volo knew from the onset that the Volocopter was very
easy to fly. Due to elaborate simulations at the Stuttgart University, they
already knew that it was much more quiet than a helicopter. However, the
pleasant low, rich sound and the lower-than-expected noise level caused great
cheering among the e-volo team during the first flights.

Thanks to Fred Wilson.