Well, the mapping is getting smarter, cheaper and faster. The technology is not coming soon to the USA due to FAA and industrial military complex roadblocks. This is perfect for the rest of the world. As ever Europe leads the way in aviation.
This is actually an old story a couple of weeks later very sadly the same type of UAS flew through its control cabin killing the operator.
http://www.suasnews.com/2012/05/15515/schiebel-s-100-crash-kills-engineer-in-south-korea/
Don't expect it to be operating in civilian hands until that little issue is sorted out. Schiebel also have to answer questions about the few they sold to China.
Whilst Europe and Australia enjoy commercial UAS operation the USA are years behind. Both in technology and regulation. Yes there might be lots of military drones but the small civil stuff is rising from the East.
The regulators have not even had open discussions yet http://www.suasnews.com/2011/11/10245/uas-arc-2-0/ so January is a silly idea!
I completely agree and I'm a big drone fan, the interest in this story has been so great it seems to have crashed my site. So sorry all those trying to look in now.
No its not entirely autonomous, all the pilots hold ATPL licences and are involved in flying other platforms. It met its design criteria and will fly again in the new year for longer. Type in Zephyr at http://www.suasnews.com/ and you will find a video of the take off and landing, sorry I can't seem to paste in a link here. I believe it had enough power left to fly for several weeks more.
The rules are changing for sUAS SFAR 107 is the thing to look for. Several rules were broken don't believe the it was perfectly legal brigade. There is an investigation ongoing we understand. sUAS News.com
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Well, the mapping is getting smarter, cheaper and faster. The technology is not coming soon to the USA due to FAA and industrial military complex roadblocks. This is perfect for the rest of the world. As ever Europe leads the way in aviation.
The QinetiQ Zephyr laughs aloud at this with its two week high altitude endurance record. There are several two day platforms out there, look harder ;-)
http://www.suasnews.com/2010/07/470/after-14-nights-in-the-air-qinetiq-prepares-to-land-its-zephyr-solar-powered-unmanned-aircraft/
This is actually an old story a couple of weeks later very sadly the same type of UAS flew through its control cabin killing the operator. http://www.suasnews.com/2012/05/15515/schiebel-s-100-crash-kills-engineer-in-south-korea/ Don't expect it to be operating in civilian hands until that little issue is sorted out. Schiebel also have to answer questions about the few they sold to China.
Looking at it http://www.suasnews.com/2011/12/10488/fear-of-iran-makes-us-abort-covert-plan-to-retrieve-spy-drone/ it really does not look real. It also took a couple of days to come to light. My money is on a Predator or Reaper being the downed aircraft, but I stand to be corrected. Just look at the wing joiner, its horrid.
Whilst Europe and Australia enjoy commercial UAS operation the USA are years behind. Both in technology and regulation. Yes there might be lots of military drones but the small civil stuff is rising from the East. The regulators have not even had open discussions yet http://www.suasnews.com/2011/11/10245/uas-arc-2-0/ so January is a silly idea!
I completely agree and I'm a big drone fan, the interest in this story has been so great it seems to have crashed my site. So sorry all those trying to look in now.
It was a fail sadly they are trying again today looks very cool! http://www.suasnews.com/2011/05/5475/human-powered-helicopter-has-part-failure/
Well they are close to all weather, the UAS fighters en route certainly will (X47)
No its not entirely autonomous, all the pilots hold ATPL licences and are involved in flying other platforms. It met its design criteria and will fly again in the new year for longer. Type in Zephyr at http://www.suasnews.com/ and you will find a video of the take off and landing, sorry I can't seem to paste in a link here. I believe it had enough power left to fly for several weeks more.
The rules are changing for sUAS SFAR 107 is the thing to look for. Several rules were broken don't believe the it was perfectly legal brigade. There is an investigation ongoing we understand. sUAS News .com