Airbus debuts its half-plane, half-helicopter to the public

By Umar Shakir , a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.

Airbus has a new aircraft that’s half helicopter and half airplane, designed to speed up flight times for emergency responders. The company calls it the Racer: it has wings like a plane, forward-facing rotors, plus top helicopter blades that seriously make it look like a baby of two aircraft.

Today, Airbus is sharing its one-off working demonstration model of the Racer in France’s southern port city of Marseille for the first time, Reuters reports. It follows new flight images and video posted by Airbus earlier this week that shows how it can take off like a helicopter and make a smooth landing without a long runway. The Racer had its first flight in April.

In an email to The Verge, Airbus Helicopters head of external communications Laurence Petiard writes that a ceremony was held today for the company’s partners in the Clean Sky 2 project, involving 40 partners from 13 different European countries. “They were able to see Racer in flight and then on static display,” Petiard said.

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