On Oct 8th, Christopher Schmidt was flying his quadcopter at Magazine Beach Park in Cambridge, when a hawk decided he wasn’t too happy with his invasion of his airspace… Continue reading
NATO User Group for Reapers Established
A NATO Members User Group for the GA-ASI MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is being established. According to Frank Pace, President of GA-ASI, it will provide a forum for new European Reaper operators to understand U.S. tactics, techniques and procedures, and to arrange mutually beneficial support solutions. The UK and France already operate Reapers, and the Netherlands will buy four, according to Pace. Germany remains a potential customer, he added, although it might wait for the certifiable Predator B. This version of the Reaper is on schedule to fly in late 2016, Pace added. Continue reading
FAA Statement on MITRE’s Independent Assessment and Recommendations for NextGen
An undertaking as complex as the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) deserves thorough, periodic evaluation to consider what the aviation community has accomplished to date, where things stand, and where the effort is headed. At the FAA’s request, MITRE/CAASD has conducted such an assessment over the last several months and has delivered its recommendations to the FAA. Continue reading
Unmanned Aerial Spy Photography from 1907
In 1914, early on in the new Great War, one German inventor thought his way of taking photographs from the sky would be able to help the small number of airplanes available for the job. Back in 1907 Julius Neubronner had invented a small, automatic camera that could be strapped to a homing pigeon (these birds were already widely used by armies for carrying messages).
Whistleblower Accuses Northrop Grumman of Fudging GPS Systems Testing
An employee of Northrop Grumman has accused the company of faking tests on its LN-100 Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS). The GPS unit is installed on “various aircraft, including helicopters and unmanned drones (including the Predator), missiles, submarines, and other vehicles,” the lawsuit said. The LN-100 provides essential positioning data to the sensitive systems. Continue reading
NMSU Tests Unmanned Aircraft Over Active Mine
New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory Unmanned Aircraft Flight Test Center acquired a Certificate of Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to perform aeronautical research on an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) over an active open pit mine in central Colorado. Continue reading
Flying Production Invents Da Vinci
Flying Production Ltd – a developer of Defence and HLS solutions, including Multi-Rotor Platforms – will launch Da-Vinci, a compact, lightweight, multi-rotor VTOL sUAS platform at upcoming AUSA 2014. The complete system, which is ideal for urban warfare observation missions, includes a Portable Ground Control Station and Dual Sensor EO/IR Payload. A number of Da-Vinci systems have already been sold to an Eastern European country.
FG-1D Corsair Fighter Display
Keith Skilling once again puts the Old Stick and Rudder Company’s massive Goodyear-built FG-1D Corsair fighter through its paces at the Classics Of The Sky airshow, Tauranga Airport, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand. Continue reading