Sun, Mar 02, 2014
One Landing Gear On Electric HALE UAV Damaged During Touchdown
On February 13, 2014, Air Strato, an electrical powered unmanned aerial vehicle, performed its first take-off from rough terrain. The aircraft performed a short flight at an altitude of about 75 feet, and then landed.
The aircraft was powered by four electrical engines. Two supplementary engines were added in order to shorten the take-off distance. Other additions were suspensions installed on main and forward landing gear. The right landing gear suspension was damaged at touch down.
"The aircraft had only 10 percent of the batteries intended for the commercial version so we had to add ballast to simulate take-off weight," said Teodor Diaconu, ARCA flight dynamics engineer. "We also added two more electrical motors to increase thrust, needed on the rough ground to decrease take-off distance that, combined with the landing gear suspension, provided for a smooth taxi and take-off on rough terrain. It took less than 30 m to lift into the air at maximum thrust. Also we were impressed by the aircraft's rate of climb.”
Air Strato is a high altitude electrical powered unmanned aerial vehicle. It can reach altitudes of above 18 km (59,000 feet) and can fly autonomously for 7 hours on internal batteries and 3 days using solar panels. It can carry a variable payload up to about 65 pounds consisting of surveillance equipment or other scientific instruments.
ARCA is a non-profit organization based in Romania. Its stated main objective is the exploration of space. In order to reach this objective, ARCA says it is working to develop cost effective space vehicles.
(Images provided by ARCA)
More News
Also: Vertical Flight Society, NBAA Maintenance Conference, GA Honored, AMT Scholarship For the first time, students from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus took t>[...]
Hazardous Weather Information Summary of significant meteorological information (SIGMET/WS), convective significant meteorological information (convective SIGMET/WST), urgent pilot>[...]
"The need for innovation at speed and scale is greater than ever. The X-62A VISTA is a crucial platform in our efforts to develop, test and integrate AI, as well as to establish AI>[...]
(FAA) Inspector Observed That Both Fuel Tanks Were Intact And That Only A Minimal Amount Of Fuel Remained In Each Analysis: According to the pilot, approximately 8 miles from the d>[...]
“Pyka’s Pelican Cargo is unlike any other UAS solution on the market for contested logistics. We assessed a number of leading capabilities and concluded that the Pelica>[...]