50 Year Old Cessna Achieves Unmanned Flight

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The United States Air Force has recently succeeded in flying and landing a 1968 Cessna 206 without having anybody on board. The United States Air Force Research Laboratory (ARFL) along with DZYNE Technologies Incorporated have completed a two hour first flight using a Robotic Pilot Unmanned Conversion Program called ROBOpilot.

ROBOpilot is pretty much what the name implies; a robotic pilot. By removing the pilot’s seat in the Cessna 206 and installing a robotic device that operates the aircraft’s controls similar to how a human pilot would, the Air Force has managed to easily convert the 50 year old Cessna into a UAV. 

“Imagine being able to rapidly and affordably convert a general aviation aircraft, like a Cessna or Piper, into an unmanned aerial vehicle, have it fly a mission autonomously, and then returning it back to its original manned configuration,” said Senior Scientist with the Research Laboratory’s Center for Rapid Innovation, Dr. Alok Das. “This is achieved without making permanent modifications to the aircraft.”

ROBOpilot controls the stick, pushes on breaks and rudders, controls the throttle, flips switches, and can read the aircraft’s avionics. In addition, the system utilises GPS and an Inertial Measurement Unit for increased situational awareness and flight data. The system then uses this data to make decisions as towards how to best fly the aircraft.

ROBOpilot offers the military the benefits of going on unmanned operations without having to deal with the costs and complexities of developing new unmanned aircraft and vehicles.