Reached An Altitude Of 10 Feet Hovering For 64 Seconds

Elroy Air, an autonomy and logistics company developing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial cargo systems, announced the successful completion of its first full-scale system flight test, the 1215 lb prototype reaching a height of 10 feet and hovering for 64 seconds before descending and landing safely. The test was completed at 9:14AM PST on August 14th, 2019 at McMillan Airfield at Camp Roberts, CA in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School. The aircraft was remotely piloted by the company’s lead test pilot.

“Today is an important step toward the future of logistics,” said David Merrill, CEO of Elroy Air. “Since the earliest days of powered flight people have wanted to use the skies for convenient, rapid cargo transport to anywhere. The airport-dependence of traditional manned air cargo options shows that air cargo still has great opportunity to evolve! Autonomous VTOL cargo systems will make the dream of ultra-responsive logistics possible, because they decouple air cargo from airports. These large cargo systems are about to become mainstream, and the Elroy Air team is leading the industry with our development of the Chaparral aerial cargo system.”

Unique to the Elroy Air system is its hybrid-electric powertrain enabling long range deliveries, and its cargo-handling automation for rapid and unattended loading and unloading. Very few teams worldwide have achieved successful flight of a VTOL system of this scale.

“The development is a response to a global pilot shortage and growing demand for more flexible and rapid logistics across all traffic and terrain scenarios on the ground. Autonomous air cargo transportation has the ability to improve the quality of life globally by increasing access to time-sensitive critical supplies,“ said Kofi Asante, Head of Strategy and Business Development. “Our systems have been requested to serve e-commerce parcel, pharmaceutical, humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions globally. As the growing demand for rapid logistics drives shippers to adapt, we plan to play a key part in enabling this new wave of autonomy-enabled express transportation.”

Following the successful first fight, the team will focus on additional testing, including autonomy, transitions and forward flight.

(Image provided with Elroy Air news release)

FMI: www.elroyair.com