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River Seine to Have Flying Taxi Landing Pad at Paris Olympics

A Volocity air taxi flies during a demonstration flight at Paris Bourget Airport on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
A Volocity air taxi flies during a demonstration flight at Paris Bourget Airport on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
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River Seine to Have Flying Taxi Landing Pad at Paris Olympics

A Volocity air taxi flies during a demonstration flight at Paris Bourget Airport on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
A Volocity air taxi flies during a demonstration flight at Paris Bourget Airport on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

France's government on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for construction of a floating landing pad on the River Seine for flying taxis set to be shown off during the Paris Olympics.
An official decree said that the pad "can be used until December 31, 2024" after months of suspense over whether the taxis would take to the air during the July 26 - August 11 Games, said AFP.
The landing site will float on the Seine near the Austerlitz railway station in southeastern Paris.
Flights will be limited to two per hour, between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, and no more than 900 over the whole trial period "given the experimental nature" of the vehicles, the decree read.
Private firms involved in the flying taxi project include Paris airport operator ADP and Germany-based Volocopter.
Its "Volocity" two-seaters are fitted with 18 electric-powered rotors on a circular frame above the fuselage.
They hope to use the global draw of the Olympics to show that the technology can efficiently link "vertiport" take-off and landing sites.
While four vertiports -- airports for vertical take-off and landing vehicles -- have already been set up in the Paris suburbs, including one at Charles de Gaulle airport, the Austerlitz site will be the first within the city proper.
Backers tout flying taxis as a low-carbon form of aviation and hope future larger versions could be used as ambulances or in other roles.
But many city officials in Paris have derided the plans as harmful to the environment.
People close to mayor Anne Hidalgo told AFP Tuesday that city hall would challenge the landing pad permit in court.
France's national environment authority found that an impact assessment for the landing pad was "incomplete" on issues including noise pollution, energy consumption and greenhouse emissions.
Neither have the taxis been certified by the European Union's Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) -- meaning operators can only offer free demonstration flights during the Games.

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Varieties

Dazzling Ice Castles Draw Tourists to New Hampshire, Other States

Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP)
Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP)
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Dazzling Ice Castles Draw Tourists to New Hampshire, Other States

Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP)
Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP)

An annual architectural celebration of ice is up and running again in New Hampshire and several other US states.

Ice Castles, which are both temporary art installations and tourist attractions, feature towers, tunnels, archways and caves, all created by growing, harvesting and arranging thousands of icicles and then blasting them with sprinklers.

The company behind the displays has expanded since its first installation in 2011. This year it has operations in Utah, Minnesota, two locations in Colorado and New Hampshire, where the site includes a snow tubing hill and ice bar. After a mild winter last year, officials were thrilled that temperatures were cold enough to open earlier this season.

"It's one of the biggest ice castles we've ever built," said Jared Henningsen, the company’s vice president for operations. "We're looking at about 25 million pounds of ice spread over two acres."

As a winter storm brought biting cold and wet snow to the South, visitors to the New Hampshire castle bundled up to explore its twists and turns Friday.

Julia Jones of Gloucester, Massachusetts, said she travels to northern New Hampshire several times a year but had not experienced the ice castles until her opening-day visit.

"I've never seen anything like this before," she said. "Honestly I didn't think it was gonna be this big."

Jessica Sullivan, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, also was surprised, and not just by the frozen environment. Her boyfriend, Brian Jacques, proposed to her during their visit.

"It's a beautiful place," said Jacques, who got the "yes" he was hoping for. "I definitely thought, this is the time and place to do it."

By day the walls and other structures shine with a pale blue hue. After darkness falls, lights embedded within the ice glow pink, purple and green.

"Once you enter into an ice castle, you're transitioning into something that's totally immersive and unlike something that most guests have ever seen," Henningsen said. "I think it inspires people."