 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Husum WA (SPX) Sep 13, 2010 Aerovel's Flexrotor miniature aircraft entered a new development phase Tuesday as the first prototype, named Pandora, began flight test. The table-top sized aircraft is designed for more than 3000 km range, and endurance exceeding a day and a half. In announcing its first flight, Aerovel's president, Tad McGeer - who previously led development of the Aerosonde and Scaneagle robotic aircraft - said that this time around was a little different. "With Aerosonde we launched into flight test by barreling down the runway on a car roof, and with Scaneagle we blasted off with a catapult, so it was a nice change just to lift placidly into the air, and park in a hover a few metres off the ground." A genteel entry to flight is possible because Flexrotor is a "tailsitter": it will fly like a normal fixed-wing aircraft in long-range cruise, but can also hover like a helicopter with its nose vertical. This arrangement allows Flexrotor to achieve not only VTOL, explains McGeer, but also fully-automated turnaround. "We're designing a lightweight base station for automatic retrieval, parking, refueling, and launch. It should be practical for tough spots, like the windswept, heaving deck of a small boat. Automated turnaround should enable high utilisation, and keep operating costs down." "Of course accurate control in hover is essential for automatic turnaround, so on first flight we were most interested to check autopilot performance in this regime. "It turned out to be as good as expected. Control was crisp in all modes; station keeping was precise; and we finished the proceedings with a soft on-the-spot landing." Upcoming flights will expand the hover-mode envelope. Later in the year Aerovel plans to move on to transitions between thrust- and wing-borne flight, and to evaluation of wing-borne performance. Flexrotor is targeted for fielding in 2012.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Aerovel UAV News - Suppliers and Technology
US drone strike kills six militants in Pakistan: officialsMiranshah, Pakistan (AFP) Sept 12, 2010 A US missile strike Sunday killed six militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, as a suicide bomber died in a failed attack in Pakistan's Kashmir, officials said. Pakistan has seen a sharp spike in US drone strikes in its rugged northwestern tribal region in recent days, amid a surge in suicide attacks and bombings across the country. The Pakistani Taliban ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
