Lilium shows footage of full test flight with its electric air taxi

German start-up Lilium conducted a test flight with its Lilium Jet in October and the company has now released images of the full test flight. The Lilium Jet is a five-person flying taxi powered by 36 electric motors.

The test flight was conducted on October 1, completing the first test phase. Lilium reports that the test flight lasted about three minutes and that the controllability was mainly tested during the flight. We also looked at how the drone behaved during the steep turns. During the test flight, the aircraft made an eight figure and also demonstrated the ability to take off and land vertically. Also, the transition from vertical takeoff to horizontal speeding is visible, which according to the company is a very big challenge. A speed of 65 km/h was achieved during the test flight, although a speed of 100 km/h was already reached during a more recent flight.

The Munich-based Lilium already managed to successfully take off and land the aircraft in May. The intention is that the Lilium Jet will be used as an air taxi from 2025 and can transport up to five people over a distance of 300 km, which should take about sixty minutes. That means a speed of 300 km/h. Incidentally, in a commercial deployment, a pilot will be on board, so that a maximum of four passengers can travel.

For this, the Lilium Jet is equipped with 36 electric motors on its wings, which Lilium refers to as ‘ducted fans’. These all-electric motors blow air out, so that a force is exerted on the device in the opposite direction. These engines can tilt, so that the aircraft can also fly horizontally after vertical take-off. According to Lilium, these engines are relatively quiet; their design traps and removes the noise before it leaves the engine. They would also cause little vibration so that the flight will be comfortable for passengers.