First 3D-printed aircraft

On 1 June 2016, at the Berlin Air Show, Airbus unveiled THOR, the first aircraft to be completely 3D-printed, with the exception of its electrical systems. Weighing just 21 kg, THOR is an unmanned demonstrator that had its first flight in November 2015. THOR stands for Testing High-tech Objectives in Reality. The aircraft is powered by two 1.5-kW electric motors and is mostly printed from plastic polyamide.

Detlev Konigorski, who was in charge of developing THOR, said: "This is a test of what's possible with 3D printing technology. We want to see if we can speed up the development process by using 3D printing not just for individual parts but for an entire system."

Chief engineer Gunnar Haase, who conducted THOR's inaugural flight near Hamburg, said that THOR "flies beautifully" and "is very stable".