Also: SpaceX Crew Dragon, AUVSI USDPS Event, XQ-58A Valkyrie, Global Hawk At Avalon 2019

A Chinese drone company has plans to undertake an initial public offering in the US, in order to raise approximately a half billion dollars... and no, it's NOT DJI. News reports are quoting sources claiming that EHang is planning a US IPO this year.

While eHang has had it problems getting a toehold in a number of recreational and commercial drone markets, it has made a lot of news in the process. The five year old company made serious headlines three years ago with the first showings of the eHang 184... which looked like a multi-copter on steroids... but was designed as a first generation attempt to configure such technology for small passenger drone operations... mostly via autonomous control modes. In the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Alabama last week, rescuers deployed drones into areas that were otherwise inaccessible, looking for survivors and assessing damage. While Lee County, AL Sheriff Jay Jones’ department has been using drones for a "couple of years," this is the first time they have been deployed for "extensive search and recovery. It gave us an overhead view of areas that we might’ve missed had we been at eye level on land." Just over a year ago Northwest UAV announced that the NW-44 Multi-Fuel Engine had logged just over 1000 combat flight hours. Today, that same engine line has flown over 10,000 flight hours and has logged over 1000 flights. Northwest UAV is now adding manufacturing and office space to their campus as they look to the future of unmanned aircraft systems. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne-Unmanned!!!

Airborne-Unmanned 03.12.19 is chock full of info in this Weekly News Episode, Tuesday, March 12th 2019... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Hosts Sophie Hurlock, Skylar Vanel, Brianne Cross, Christopher Odom, and Laura Hutson, and is supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalist Tom Patton, this episode covers:

• Dronemaker EHang Plans U.S. IPO
• Drones A Valuable Tool In The Wake Of Alabama Tornadoes
• Northwest UAVs NW-44 Heavy-Fuel Engine Marks Milestones
• SpaceX Crew Dragon Safely Splashes Down In The Atlantic Ocean
• AUVSI Announces Date For USDPS Event 
• XQ-58A Valkyrie Demonstrator Completes Inaugural Flight 
• Global Hawk Achieves Historic First At Avalon 2019 

Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again next week for the next edition of "Airborne-Unmanned" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, next week!

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