Aerovel Testing Flexrotor Long-Endurance Robotic Aircraft With VTOL: "Aerovel's Flexrotor miniature aircraft entered a new development phase Tuesday as the first prototype, named Pandora, began flight test. The table-top sized aircraft is designed for more than 3000 km range, and endurance exceeding a day and a half.
In announcing its first flight, Aerovel's president, Tad McGeer - who previously led development of the Aerosonde and Scaneagle robotic aircraft - said that this time around was a little different.
"With Aerosonde we launched into flight test by barreling down the runway on a car roof, and with Scaneagle we blasted off with a catapult, so it was a nice change just to lift placidly into the air, and park in a hover a few metres off the ground."
A genteel entry to flight is possible because Flexrotor is a "tailsitter": it will fly like a normal fixed-wing aircraft in long-range cruise, but can also hover like a helicopter with its nose vertical.
This arrangement allows Flexrotor to achieve not only VTOL, explains McGeer, but also fully-automated turnaround."
