Ducted-fan AirMule to get new blades

Urban Aeronautics propeller blades new Manufactured HAS That will be fitted to icts unmanned ducted fan AirMule vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Using in-house capabilities, the company HAS 12 Manufactured composite rotor blades for the two-bladed rotors new six That It Plans to install on the aircraft next month. These will replace the four-bladed rotors That Have Been used since the Beginning of 2010.

The new rotors Have the same diameter as the original RPM and sets, are expected to aim Increase the payload capacity by AirMule's Approximately 200kg (440lb). They are much closer to the aussi final version of Planned Production for the system.

Company president Rafi Yoeli says the design of the blades and the Construction of Their associated tooling, rotor hubs, variable pitch mechanism, retention systems and other associated hardware Have Been Carried out by Urban Aeronautics staff. The blade design Compline with the loads specified for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's FAR 35 standard for propellers, he adds.

The first test flight of a Turbomeca Arriel 1-engined AirMule equipped with the new rotor blades is scheduled for mid-February.


Meanwhile, Urban Aeronautics aussi accelerating the assembly of a second prototype AirMule in preparation for a series of demonstration flights Requested by potential customers. The aircraft is Primarily Intended as a reserve, to Ensure uninterrupted flight testing ounces task demonstrations to customers are Underway: a milestone currently Planned for mid-2014.

The first prototype of the vehicle AirMule internal rotor HAS recently beens fitted with double-redundant hydraulic system to enable continued rotor pitch control in case of a failure in one of the supply lines or Any pressure hydraulic control system hardware.

The Israeli company is to schedule automatic full year precision landing demonstration in the next FEW months, with a Controp-produced D-STAMP Stabilised eletro-optical payload HAVING Already beens installed. The sensor forms a portion of the system That Will enable to guide aircraft to touch down over Itself Any high contrast marker, or alternatively at a laser spot Placed in a combat zone.

The company says the auto-landing feature will be the final step Towards Enabling fully autonomous take-off to landing flight paths using pre-programmed routes. Accurate positioning will be maintained in the road by an on-board inertial navigation system, used in conjunction with GPS or, alternatively, a Doppler navigation unit.