First drone takes off from Griffiss

On Oct. 28, the experimental test flight of a Logos Technologies unmanned aerial vehicle took place at the Griffiss UAS Test Site and the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.

The vehicle flown was powered by a parafoil system, which combines a fabric wing (essentially a parachute) with an aircraft fuselage. Beyond the parafoil system’s ability to carry significant loads for its weight class, it provides increased safety over traditional UAVs, according to the release.
The vehicle is designed to further develop Logos’ flight control approach for inexpensively delivering supplies to dispersed units.

“We are excited about being the first to fly a UAS at the Griffiss FAA test site” said Dr. Wade Pulliam, director of Advanced Concepts at Logos Technologies. “(The) flight tests were a great success and allowed us to collect valuable data that will be critical to our development of parafoil systems for military and commercial applications.”

The ability to develop unmanned aerial systems could accelerate the development of such systems for many future applications, including precision agriculture, pipeline and power line monitoring, environmental monitoring, and disaster/humanitarian relief support.

“Through these first successful operational flights, the NUAIR Alliance and its partners have met a significant mandate for this test site,” said Larry Brinker, executive director of the NUAIR Alliance. “This is an exciting step into the future of aviation and the deployment of unmanned aircraft systems.”>