Astro Aerospace, the company creating autonomous, eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aerial vehicles has announced the success of their recent flight testing just North of Toronto, in Markham Ontario, Canada.
After being granted a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC), a permit for commercial Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) flights by Transport Canada, its aerial vehicle project, “Elroy” took flight at Toronto Markham Airport (CNU8) the week of September 17, 2018.
Astro CEO Bruce Bent says, “To see Elroy fly so smoothly and efficiently validates all of our efforts and continues to move us forward as a leader in the eVTOL space”.
The SFOC allowed Astro to perform testing that put Elroy through critical elements of integrated flight testing.
The testing culminated on Wednesday September 19, with a 4 minute and 30 second flight, reaching heights of over 60 feet and speeds of over 50 km/h. The avionics and flight control systems were put to task with a multitude of manoeuvres and the vehicle remained exceptionally stable, even under the affects of a couple of unexpected wind gusts. Due to a predefined wind speed limitation on the SFOC, Elroy was grounded for the remainder of the week.
“Although we would have liked to continue with more testing, we were able to gather plenty of valuable system data that assists us moving forward. We had a really good week.” Phil Croft of Astro stated.
Elroy is Astro’s 2 passenger, eVTOL (Electric Take Off and Landing) short haul aerial vehicle that has the ability to travel up to 70km/hr for 25 minutes completely emission free, is ideal for urban commutes, and turns a 2 hour trip into 20 minutes.
It’s industry leading Touch Screen Control system, flight control algorithm and avionics software are just a few of the key components that attribute to Elroy’s success.
Source: Press Release