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Photos: CityAirbus relocates to Manching for flight envelope expansion

By eVTOL | August 29, 2020

Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 2 seconds.

Airbus has confirmed that its CityAirbus eVTOL demonstrator has relocated within Germany from the company’s facilities in Donauwörth to its development test center in Manching for continued flight testing.

CityAirbus move to Manching
The relocation of CityAirbus to Manching was originally planned for early this year, but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Airbus Photo

Photos released by Airbus show how the fully electric multicopter was packaged for the approximately 60-kilometer (37-mile) journey by ground. Local media in Manching are set to get a look at the aircraft on Monday.

CityAirbus was assembled by Airbus Helicopters in Donauwörth and did initial flight testing there, including most recently its first fully automatic flight. Due to the nature of the site in Donauwörth, however, the aircraft has been able to perform only limited hovering maneuvers.

  • CityAirbus eVTOL move
  • CityAirbus eVTOL move
  • CityAirbus eVTOL move
  • CityAirbus eVTOL move
  • CityAirbus eVTOL move
  • CityAirbus eVTOL move

At the test site in Manching, CityAirbus will be able to fly at higher speeds and for longer distances. Airbus has used the site to develop other unmanned aerial systems, including its Barracuda technology testbed and Quadcruiser demonstrator.

Airbus is using CityAirbus to develop key technologies including electric flight and autonomy for future VTOL platforms. It is the second full-scale eVTOL prototype that Airbus has revealed publicly, the other being the tilt-wing Vahana, which wrapped up a 138-flight test campaign last year.

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