Giant 10-person 'flying taxi' passes first flight test in China

A sleek silvery aircraft flies over a smoggy cityscape with multiple propellors and tails.

A Chinese company successfully flew a 5-ton (4,536-kilogram) electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) in a new feat for electric aircraft. Its makers at Fengfei Aviation claim it's the largest eVTOL to ever complete a test flight.

During the test flight, the V5000 aircraft lifted off in VTOL mode, switched to fixed-wing mode for a short flight, and then transitioned back to VTOL mode to safely land. VTOL vehicles mimic helicopters, enabling them to lift off and land on helipads or in other smaller spaces without requiring supporting infrastructure, such as the runways used by fixed-wing aircraft.