What it's like to fly an 'epic' $495,000 human drone

We're constantly told how flying taxis are the future, but right now that whole concept sounds relatively far-fetched.

However, a YouTube video from SupercarBlondie back in May 2023 took a detailed look at one company that might be pretty close to achieving a reality where we can fly ourselves around in drones.

The team went to try out the Hexa Lift, created by Lift, a single-seater drone that can be piloted easily by someone with just an hour's training, even if they've never flown anything before.

The day started with an hour of briefings and a bit of VR training to get used to the controls, before showing off the Hexa, which looks pretty amazing.

It has a single seat with a joystick, a screen with details on it, and underneath that seat, there are six legs for landing in stable way.

Above that, meanwhile, there's a big array of 18 propellers that give the Hexa its lift, and to make this all as light as possible, it's built almost entirely out of carbon fiber.

This makes it weigh about the same as a motorcycle, despite being way bigger. For safety, there's a ballistic parachute that can burst out to let the drone down slowly from a height of 12 meters or more.

The joystick controls look pretty straightforward, with fewer buttons than most video games, but the proof is in the pudding as they take off for a maiden flight, in a geofenced area that can't be left by the drone for safety reasons.

With nearly a $500,000 valuation on the drone itself, you wouldn't want to crash it, but the flight goes impressively smoothly.

Richard Newstead / Getty

In seconds, they're up in the air and gliding around, nice and slowly to stay in full control, and you can see how amazed they are by the whole process.

A second flight is even more active, with more movement and some impressive spins, and it all seems super smooth.

The host says the experience felt "completely nuts" and that learning to fly the drone was incredibly easy, and that enthusiasm is catching - people in the comments are suitably impressed.

One person wrote: "I like the flight control method. Anyone can fly this. The control system handles the complexity using sensors."

Another reacted: "I spent 6 years at flight academy and you just learned thing in 40 minutes. Nice."

So, don't bet against your chances of flying a drone like this in your lifetime - for all we know, it could happen a lot sooner than you might think.