That same year, fellow French inventor Paul Cornu designed and built the Cornu helicopter which used two counter-rotating rotors driven by a Antoinette engine. On 13 November 1907, it lifted its inventor to and remained aloft for 20 seconds. Even though this flight did not surpass the flight of the Gyroplane No. 1, it was reported to be the first truly free flight with a pilot. Cornu's helicopter completed a few more flights and achieved a height of nearly , but it proved to be unstable and was abandoned.