Unmanned K-Max

[Over-Talk]

The unmanned K-Max is not only flying real missions in Afghanistan, now it is bucketing too.

http://youtu.be/53cBlCfLpZg. I realise there is a section to post videos, but this seems to have more relevance to General Helicopter Operations than many of the posts here lately. If we get a few of these in Wabasca and Rainbow Lake we won't need all those TFWs anymore!!!

[DGP]

Great,set me up in the Marriott hotel with a laptop in Edmonton.No more Garden Of Edra.I am sure a few guys on here spent time in that sh^t hole!

[DGP]

The one I liked the best was personnel extraction.Who's going to be the first to go for that ride,hah!

[Helilog56]

I would love to see how well that drone would do in the mountains dealing with shifting winds and turbulence. Add a raging fire with thermals on some steep slopes and I think the operator may be in over his/her head......

[skullcap]

Gives a new level to eat into then, eat your way into a medium,,,eat your way to heavy, NOW eat your way into a drone,,,,!!!

[Maury]

Would any of you imagined this 10 - 15 years ago? Try to imagine what things might look like in 10 -15 years from now. I would imagine, Bob, that it won't be long before radar, both vertically and forward looking, or GPS, or some brand new "thing" could look after any conditions that may be encountered. Good luck to all of you that aren't very well established in the industry already. This kind of thing will hit the commercial world sooner than we may like to think.

[shakey]

I wonder how much the technology will cost to have that put in a machine? Can you just imagine how many fire crews will be willing to hop in an unmanned helicopter.

[helicopterjim]

I would love to see how well that drone would do in the mountains dealing with shifting winds and turbulence. Add a raging fire with thermals on some steep slopes and I think the operator may be in over his/her head......

 

I wonder if it has a recognition system so it won't drop on ground crew .....

 

Probably hire highschool kids to run them ..... pay them with pop and chips and gum.

[skullcap]

Ground crew around the relay tank will probably be dryer than they are now! ha ha.

[ThreePer]

"That darn electro-box can't outfly me!".

I assume you all still ride horses into town for fresh milk every morning too, because those darn petrol-burners are so unreliable!

 

Have you guys every flown a (cheap) RC helicopter lately? The onboard solid state gyros and GPS stabilization will make you all look like Michael J Fox got a pilot's license, mountain turbulence or not. Throw a few million into a a system and scale it into 10k lb lifter? No problem.

 

This IS the future, like it or not. Luckily they haven't trained any drones to fix them when they have snags, so my job is still secure!