Germany’s ADAC Luftrettung has announced that it has begun a feasibility study looking into the use of manned multi-copter aircraft for aeromedical purposes.

The project, funded by ADAC Foundation, will be carried out at the base in Ansbach and Dinkelsbühl. The service will be using Volocopter aircraft – a German company which is developing multi-copter aircraft based on drone technology and powered by electricity.

“ADAC was one of the first in Germany 50 years ago to test the use of rescue helicopters in a field trial,” Frédéric Bruder, Managing Director of the ADAC Luftrettung. “So it is only logical that we are now the first to lead the air rescue in Germany with new technologies into the future.”

The aircraft will be put under specific trials to find out their feasibility as medical aircraft, said ADAC Luftrettung, with the first research flights being conducted in the next few months. First results of the study, focusing on the operational potential and the profitability of these aircraft, will be released late 2019. The cost of the study, which ADAC Luftrettung estimates will take a year-and-a-half, will cost around €500,000 the company believes.

“The Volocopter is based on a technology platform that allows versatile and reliable use as an air taxi, load drone or [for] rescue operations,” said Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter. “I firmly believe in the potential for the nationwide deployment of the Volocopter as an emergency doctor feeder and I am pleased that we are now systematically validating this together with ADAC Luftrettung.”