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#21
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David O wrote:
Ron Wanttaja wrote: Yeah, it's kind of funny...so many people are making a big deal about this most-recent flight, when Insitu did it five years ago. The TAM aeromodel crossing remains a "big deal" from my perspective for a number of reasons. Kudos to Maynard Hill and the gang. Not that I disagree, but would you mind elaborating on your "number of reasons?" -- Frank Stutzman Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl" Hood River, OR |
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#23
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![]() Frank Stutzman wrote: Not that I disagree, but would you mind elaborating on your "number of reasons?" Scaling to FAI recognized aeromodel limits (11 lb max weight and 10 cc max engine displacement) was extremely challenging. The TAM effort was more than four years in development by a small group of dedicated unpaid volunteers. Team Leader Maynard Hill is 77 years young and, over a period of almost 40 years, established 23 FAI recognized aeromodel world records. His pioneering endurance work gave the TAM project a jump-start. Mr. Hill has done much to further the art of aeromodeling and this was his crowning achievement (to date). It was a big deal for him, a big deal for his team, and a big deal for the RC aeromodel community. The Insitu "Aerosonde" weighed about 29 lb and was not an FAI recognized aeromodel. Its development was a commercial effort by engineers under sponsorship from US Office of Naval Research, L3 Communications, and Boeing. David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com |
#24
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Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 17:29:58 GMT, (Corky Scott) wrote: Wait, Boeing is not claiming their UAV crossed the Atlantic are they? IIRC, Boeing bought Insitu *after* the Atlantic crossing, not before. This was not done by a major corporation...Insitu was then a pretty small company, almost a hobby shop. And I'm not sure how much of the company Boeing now owns. I met one of the Insitu guys (at a B&B, in fact) a couple of months back, and his business card just said "Insitu." Boeing generally puts its name on any company it has controlling interest of. Ron Wanttaja Both groups of opinions are correct except little is known of the real development of the Aerosonde for various reasons. The idea of a small autonomous efficient aircraft came from Tad McGeer a very clever ex MIT aeronautical engineer. He knew what he wanted to do but could not get sufficient funding apart from some funds from the US Navy ONR and Washington State University. He formed Insitu up in Washington State to beaver away on this project on a shoestring. In stepped one Dr Greg Holland from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology who is an expert in severe weather in particular Cyclones. He is looking for an inexpensive tool to put met sensors into Cyclones without having to hire C130's. Tad and Greg got together at a conference and the result of that is that most of the development of the Aerosonde was funded in Australia as a joint venture between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Insitu, and Sencon Environmental Systems (now ES&S) Another aspect was that the FAA had no regs in place to allow commercial UAV's to fly and did not seem too keen on getting involved. (I guess the old litigation scene again) The Australian Gov through CASA had no such qualms and they duly wrote the book on flying UAV's in both uncontrolled and controlled airspace. Mal Walker of CASA should be thanked there. He broke new ground in allowing the Aerosonde to fly under permits in some very interesting places. I think the ultimate of that was an autonomous demonstration flight of the Aerosonde at Canberra airport (Capital of Australia) in the circuit while RPT and GA operations continued normally. Flights were also conducted at Broom, Port Headland, Darwin, Hamilton, various Pacific islands, Arctic region and Asia. At the end of a three year development period a company called Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft was formed and ultimately was purchased by SAAB. Unfortunately when you get two brilliant people like Tad and Greg together they do not always agree and separation came about. Tad continued in his direction at Insutu and Greg ran Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft. See http://www.aerosonde.com/index.php for current state of the company. In relation to the Atlantic crossing that was certainly all Tads idea and his Insitu team carried it out. Any one that can fly a light autonomous aircraft those distances in that climate deserve congratulating such as Insitu and the TAM team. BG |
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