The First Electric, Manned and Untethered Helicopter Flight

A French engineer makes his way into history with an electric helicopter prototype all his own.

While backed by Solution F, Chretien designed and built the prototype largely on his own. It took him approximately a year to complete. Chretien is shown here working on the helicopter.

Chretien chose an ultralight, coaxial rotor design to get the job done.

The prototype's rotors are powered by lightweight, brushed DC motors, as well as highly flammable Lithium ion polymer pouch cells.

**Despite the helicopter's other unconventional aspects, the lithium batteries pose the greatest risk during flight.
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As opposed to cyclic control systems used in conventional helicopters, Chretien chose a simple weight-shifting system to provide steering capabilities. The lever arm shown here controls the system, as well as the collective.

A computer-generated illustration of the helicopter's weight-shifting system is shown here.

**Chretien used this test seat to acclimate himself to the unusual design, which required him to overcome long-ingrained habits acquired during his 15 years of experience flying conventional helicopters.
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Like in traditional helicopters, yaw is controlled through the prototype's pedals.

**All of the prototype's components come together to form a lightweight design focused on energy efficiency.
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A computer-generated design of Chretien's design is shown here.

**Chretien tested this design with several tethered flights earlier in the year.
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During those fights, Chretien was able to evaluate his weight-shifting system as well as certain other aspects of the helicopter, such as the aircraft's ground effect behavior.

**While some successful strides have been made in the area of electric airplanes, advancements in electric helicopters have been limited. But Chretien and others, such as Sikorsky, which unveiled its Project Firefly electric helicopter demonstrator last year, are working to change that.
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Since helicopters require a great amount of power during several key phases of flight, including landing, the risks of testing an all-electric machine are great.