By now, most readers are probably pretty familiar with
quadracopters - small hovering unmanned electric aircraft, which get their lift from a
set of four propellers. Well, make the whole thing larger, boost the
number of propellers (and accompanying motors) to 16, and you get what
German aircraft developer e-volo calls a multicopter. While the company
has previously demonstrated unmanned drones, on October 21st it
accomplished what it claims is a world first - a manned flight.