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Nov-02-2007 05:12printcomments

New Pilotless Aircraft Flies Itself While Saving Lives

The planes have already seen service in two combat theaters and over recent forest fires in Southern California.

Unmanned air systems in flight
All photos courtesy: insitu.com

(MCMINNVILLE, Ore.) - Two Oregon aviation firms are making big strides in the development of unmanned aircraft. Evergreen Aviation's founder Del Smith loaded several local business and educational leaders aboard a Gulf Stream jet Thursday, and took them to see a demonstration in Eastern Oregon that showed the remarkable capabilities of today's new generation of remote control aircraft with live video.

It is called the "Insight" and it is manufactured by Insitu Inc., another aviation firm that works in partnership with Evergreen.

Flying a remotely controlled aircraft that costs over $100,000 might sound intimidating to even the most seasoned pilots. So they designed this one to fly itself.

The pilot works from the inside of a special vehicle designed specifically as an aircraft control area. Through the use of its sophisticated computer system, the plane has an auto pilot that is dead accurate. The pilot of this plane concentrates on gathering important imagery and location data with the aircraft's video camera, instead of flying.

Hard wind and low visibility, two of any pilot's biggest obstacles, have virtually no effect on this plane. The computer tracking system accounts for every degree of physics applied by mother nature.

When the pilot is ready to bring the Insight in, they simply set it on a recovery course. I think most of the people in attendance were shocked at how quickly the flight ended. As it flew adjacent to a special mast, a cable hooked a wing and the remote control aircraft was almost instantly hanging by a cable with the motor off.

The pilot has their hand on a trigger in the final moments of flight. During a successful recovery the button is held down the whole time and never released. If a problem develops in the last seconds though, such as a person or another obstacle stepping in the way, the pilot releases the trigger and the plane will instantly zoom back into the air on a new course.

Another model called the ScanEagle

The aircraft launch is another thing that happens very quickly. A catapult device sends the propeller driven airplane into flight from a dead stop in what seems like a millisecond.

When any aircraft is lost, the first thing searchers look for is a transponder beacon, a signal marking the plane's location. Evergreen designed a tiny transponder that weighs just a few ounces, and if these unmanned aircraft are lost, they can quickly be recovered. The lightest one available when they entered design phase weighs two and a half pounds.

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These unmanned air systems resemble a bird in flight, and a spokesman said Thursday that if a person sees them, they generally fail to recognize it as an aircraft, and their mind dismisses the possibility that they have seen anything out of the normal. In the wars in the Mid-East, they are used to spot enemy positions, and it is reported that they are saving lives in ways never imagined.

As far as being a target, it is reported that they have been shot at during operations in the Mid-East, but never shot down. The small span, 10.2 feet from wingtip to wingtip, is a very difficult moving target to strike. The plane's cruising speed is 48 knots and they can climb to 20,000 feet, but operators say their most efficient altitude is 1,200 to 3,500 feet.

The system that keeps these planes in the air can be used on land in the configuration presented to us today or they can mount it on an aircraft carrier.

The video camera mounted in in a clear bubble on the bottom of the aircraft rotates 360 degrees and the image quality is very good. The cameras have a 20x optical zoom and an 80x digital zoom. They are mounted on a stabilizer and the picture quality is steady.

As the plane flies, another vehicle with a microwave receiver dish mounted atop a very tall mast, almost identical to a TV news live van, tracks it constantly to bring the video signal into the control van where the pilot is located. They can in turn, stream that data instantly back for defense and emergency information purposes if necessary.

The airplane we watched fly, made of composite materials and painted gray, sure was hard to pick out of the sky. But a quick glance at the constantly moving microwave dish on the top of the mast instantly allows a person to find the plane if it is close by.

The planes have already seen service in two combat theaters and on a number of forest fires, including the wildfires that scorched parts of Southern California last week. They are used in a number of roles ranging from finding lost people to pinpointing insurgent locations. Evergreen and Insitu officials say the design allows these unmanned air systems to fly in virtually any situation day or night, but they always have to remain in the 'line of sight' for the signal to transmit effectively.

Several notable officials from the aviation industry also attended the event Thursday. At least one was involved in the design of the Air Force Predator, the first widely used unmanned aircraft that has targeting capability and can employ two laser-guided Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

One of the aircraft prepares to launch off the catapult system

The Evergreen/Insitu design flies for almost an entire day on a gallon and a half of gas. A spokesman joked that the Air Force Predator which costs several times more, needs a gallon and a half just to start the engine. This illustrates what these companies describe as a number of differences that set this plane apart from all others that came before it.

It was a fascinating day that I expected to record on video. Although we didn't learn until we got there, U.S. State Department rules meant that no cameras could be used to record the planes. Neither myself nor local news photographer Marcus Larson from the News Register newspaper were allowed to record images, so the photos presented here are from the Insitu company's Website.

Retired Navy helicopter pilot Douglas Keller is Evergreen's new Safety Officer. He says the unmanned aircraft are not a threat to the future of aviators in any way, I thought it was a fair question to ask. He said the only times his life has ever been in danger as a military pilot was during rescue and recovery missions. He says the remote planes can determine locations and instantly send the data back. That he says, saves serious time on a hot mission, and that saves lives.

The future of aviation is here and these relatively low cost unmanned air systems certainly steal the show.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with almost twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist and reporter. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated only with Google News. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com




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Neal Feldman November 7, 2007 8:54 am (Pacific time)

Privacy is not gone, just misunderstood. You have never had privacy out in public. And any transactions through most businesses are not private and never were. Mail is to be private as are phone conversations (unless a warrant is involved) and in your own home is private unless you invite in others who choose to violate your privacy. Ah well...


GodsofChaos November 5, 2007 2:52 pm (Pacific time)

"I wonder what kind of shotgun would be needed to down one."Vic You do realize that any thing short of a stinger missile won't be able to do them unless you have an lucky rabbits foot or something. Besides we already are under constant from spy satellites. Also have you seen those new video cameras on traffic lights? Oh and by the way they can track every financial move you ever make. Privacy is long gone. If the government thinks you our an enemy of the United States than they have several outlets to go to to track you down.


Vic November 4, 2007 8:43 am (Pacific time)

How cool ! Then we can live under constant surveillance! I wonder what kind of shotgun would be needed to down one.


Allen November 2, 2007 9:51 am (Pacific time)

When will local Police agencies have them available? Jim Elkin's chopper sure made short work of finding the bad guy the other day in my neighborhood.

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