The E-Volo Multicopter

This 16-prop "volocopter" eyes approval.

Those variants include a single-seater, like the one shown, as well as a two-seater and an unmanned version.

Unlike the prototype that flew last fall, the new variants feature an enclosed cabin below the props, instead of open-air seating located smack-dab in the middle of them.

That allows for greater stability due to a lower CG, as well as the opportunity for BRS.

Current battery constraints limit the all-electric multicopter prototype to 20 minutes of flight time.

Consequently, the first commercial version of the multicopter will feature a serial hybrid system with a range extender.

E-Volo says that system will extend the multicopter's endurance to at least a few hours.

The multicopter's 16 props aren't controlled mechanically by the pilot, as is the case in conventional helicopters.

Rather, their pitch rotation speed is dictated by multiple independent onboard computers, which controls altitude and directional control.

E-Volo goes so far as to call the handling needed to pilot the aircraft “child’s play,” saying that “it takes off and lands vertically and the pilot pays little or no attention to the flight path angle, minimum speed, stall, mixture control, pitch adjustment and many other things which make conventional aviation so demanding.”

It is the craft's simplistic controls and functionality that helped it snag the Lindbergh Prize for Innovation a few months ago.

The judges cited the craft's "breakthroughs in redundancy, simplicity of controls and inefficiencies inherent in the control surfaces normally used in aircraft" as major selling points for the multicopter.

Of the three variants currently in the works, E-Volo says the two-seater is taking priority.

The company says it is currently working with a number of partners and expects to develop the technology needed for the multicopter over the next two years.