, located in the Mojave Desert of Western California and in Singapore, specialises in developing flight simulators for Commercial and General Aviation, so we were intrigued to learn that they were launching their own unmanned aircraft, the Explorer One, at a base price of $4,185.
Michael D. Coats, Director of Engineering & CEO told us: “We had a couple of important design requirements to fulfill requests from potential customers. These potential customers are: California Department of Forestry (for inspection and observation of “fire” hotspots), Mountain Rescue Services (for getting into tight mountainous areas to look for lost hikers & downed aircraft), Terrain Mapping (for placement of windmill & solar farms), and Utility Companies (to make service lines inspections).”
“These potential customers all had similar requirements: Very portable & lightweight equipment that can be carried in a car or light truck and assembled in minutes for use, medium range of 5-15 miles, easy to use and train operators, meets all federal & local regulations for use without licenses or permits i.e. FAA. and inexpensive to purchase & operate and are expendable.”
“We also added some other desirable features such as: Readily available of parts world wide, modular in design so that key components can be transferred from one aircraft to another in the field if necessary.”
The company’s research showed that potential customers also had similar expectations of how the equipment could be used: Field employees can be driving to an area either casually or as a specific part of their job, in an ordinary car or small pick up truck, stop along side of road, unpack & assemble the aircraft within 10 minutes, launch from the roadway, fly a mission of up to 15 miles, remaining airborne for up to 90 minutes & recover the vehicle. During the flight, the aircraft would be monitoring & recording telemetry data in real time on a lap top computer.
The first prototype uses a modified existing model aircraft manufactured by a company that distributes worldwide, for airframe parts availability. This model is equipped with a strong landing gear and spoilers to enable slow flight.
For a full tech spec, click here.
The company’s Singapore office has indicated a strong interest from several potential customers. Some other US companies have also indicated interest for a larger version with a longer flight-time capability, so the company is currently developing a larger aircraft of its own design, with a 12′ (3.7 meter) wingspan and a 3-hour flight capability. The target price for the larger model is $12,000.
Source: Mojave Flight Systems