Successful Operation of a VTOL Autonomous Aircraft
Rob Akron, B.Eng EMBA ATPL(A) CPL(H) FI-I
Contract Pilot, ex-Head of Training, Advanced Upset Recovery, UAS, Electric Flight
Ok, so admittedly we're not landing rockets on barges...
But this is the project that kept our team in hiding for the past few months:
The aircraft is a Tiltwing concept, with vertical takeoff capability including transition to horizontal flight and back. Aircraft operations are fully autonomous with zero human input in flight.
More in-flight video including transition and a nice departure here:
The aircraft development and operations team was the Flight System Dynamics faculty at RWTH Aachen university, Germany.
The aircraft flew fully autonomously without pilot input during all on-site operational demonstrations including calibration.
Some further history on the project here:
It has been an honour to work with a cutting edge team on this world-leading project for a world-leading client. We hope to take the knowledge gained in Autonomous Aircraft and VTOL operations to even more amazing projects in the future.
All images and information used courtesy of the Client media page:
https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media_relations/specials/parcelcopter.html
The author will be limited in his capacity to answer technical questions due to a confidentiality agreement.
??? ???????? Global Senior Engineering Manager and People Leader ?????BVLOS drone pilot????Drone's enthusiast????Designer ??Prince2 and Agile Project Manager??L&D Advocate
8 年I envy you that kind of job... Congrats!
Add misleading job title here.
8 年I liked it very much https://youtu.be/WkYKjAugJ0c
Chief Engineer at AeroVironment
8 年THAT is a great piece of engineering. I can understand what you and your team have been through!
Songs, Film, Campaigns
8 年Great concept...what supplies the power?
President/CEO
8 年Rob, this is an amazing UAS concept. Congrats and hope to see it soon out at work.