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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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World's Rarest Whale Washes Up on New Zealand Beach

A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Photo by Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Photo by Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
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World's Rarest Whale Washes Up on New Zealand Beach

A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Photo by Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)
A handout photo taken on July 5, 2024 and received on July 16 from the New Zealand Department of Conservation shows rangers Jim Fyfe (L) and Tumai Cassidy walking beside what appears to be the carcass of a rare spade-toothed whale after it was discovered washed ashore on a beach near Taieri Mouth in New Zealand's southern Otago province. (Photo by Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation / AFP)

The body of a spade-toothed whale -- a species so rare it has never been seen alive -- appears to have washed up on a New Zealand beach, scientists say.

The remains of the obscure, five-meter (16.4 foot) long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago province on July 4, government researchers said.

It was identified by marine-mammal experts from New Zealand's Department of Conservation and the national museum, Te Papa, as a male spade-toothed whale.

A DNA investigation has been launched to confirm its classification, the scientists said.

"Spade-toothed whales are one of the most poorly known large mammalian species of modern times," said the conservation department's coastal Otago operations manager, Gabe Davies.

"Since the 1800s, only six samples have ever been documented worldwide, and all but one of these was from New Zealand," Davies said in a statement Monday.

"From a scientific and conservation point of view, this is huge."

The find was fresh enough to offer the first opportunity for a spade-toothed whale to be dissected, the conservation department said.

The species is "so rare next to nothing is known about them", it said.

- 'International importance' -

The body of the whale has been placed in cold storage and genetic samples have been sent to the University of Auckland as curators of the New Zealand Cetacean Tissue Archive.

It may take several weeks or months for the DNA to be processed and a final identification confirmed.

"The rarity of the whale means conversations around what to do next will take more time because it is a conversation of international importance," the conservation department said.

The species was first described in 1874 from just a lower jaw and two teeth collected from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand.

That sample, along with skeletal remains of two other specimens found in New Zealand and Chile, enabled scientists to confirm a new species.

Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta said researchers would study the whale's stomach contents, genetics, and how this sample compared to previous ones.

This could shine light on the whales' behavior, their population and why they are so rare, Pirotta told AFP, describing the discovery as "like hitting the jackpot".

Because so few specimens have been found and there have been no live sightings, little is known about the spade-toothed whale and it is classified as "data deficient" under New Zealand's Threat Classification System.

The first intact specimen was from a mother and calf stranding in Bay of Plenty in 2010, the New Zealand conservation department said.

A further stranding in 2017 in Gisborne added one more specimen to the collection.