Congratulations to all at ALTIUAS an RPA made in Africa, for Africa and the rest of the world. This would meet the delivery drone targets of many emerging projects. Instead of delivering things swap out the payload for cameras and be able to survey large areas in rough terrain.
"The ALTI Transition is a radically new VTOL unmanned aerial aircraft, developed from the ground up as an advanced fixed wing system with the ability to take-off and land vertically, anywhere. A powerful electric VTOL system allows the Transition to take-off and land in confined spaces and once at altitude, a 20cc four stroke petrol motor keeps the system airborne for up to 6 hours with support for a wide range of payloads and sensors that can quickly be swapped out and setup. Fully featured autonomous PX4 based open and proprietary software and hardware avionics system with easy to use ground control systems to suite.
Here at Alti we believe vertical take-off and landing is now an essential part to operating small unmanned systems effectively and the ability to operate a fixed wing aircraft from confined areas is invaluable and a huge advantage over bulky traditional systems. Operating costs and staff requirements are reduced significantly allowing more flexibility and a broader mission scope.
DOUBLE HYBRID
Multi-rotor and fixed wing, electric and fuel, the Transition is a double-hybrid aircraft unlike anything else available. With a small footprint and no need whatsoever for launch or recovery equipment, it really is the future of small unmanned systems, making operating far more versatile and cost effective.
PURE VTOL
With no need for a take-off run, it's a pure VTOL aircraft, able to vertically ascend to altitude, where it transitions into forward wing-bound flight for the duration of the mission. A smooth and quick transition back to hover with a final descent for a pin point landing.
ENDURANCE
Extend your mission parameters with endurance of up to 6 hours. The ultra-light weight Carbon Kevlar fuselage made with top quality composites used by the likes of Ferrari, Airbus and BMW. It's wind tunnel tested featuring an advanced design with dihedral, washout, winglets and more. The Transition also has duel elevators for redundant control.
AFFORDABILITY
With far lower operating costs as well as no need for expensive launch and recovery hardware and less staffing, the ALTI Transition also prices lower than any comparable system available.
TRANSITION SPECIFICATIONS
Wingspan: 2760mm
Length: 2300mm
Height: 490mm
MTOW 12kg
Max Payload Weight: 1kg
VTOL Propeller Size: 18"
Fuel Pusher Propeller Size: 15-16"
Electric VTOL Endurance: <10 min
Fuel Fixed Wing Endurance <6 Hours
The wings and rear tail-boom are removable, without the need for tools and reduce the size significantly for rapid deployment and transport. The Transition offers incredible fixed wing endurance with true VTOL capability as well as great hover times pending on the AUW, setup, payloads and environmental factors."
Comments
@Giovanni: Possible that 18x12 is not very common, but I just tried some setups in ecalc. Check below...
Here's the excerpt from the Plettenberg site:
So you have 18" prop/motor setup with more than 9Kg max static turust. Mind to share the configuration?
Giovanni, setup is 8S, hover is around 30-40%, she's got more than enough power and hovers long enough to do a full photo shoot ;)
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Marc, ALTI is a new division and focus of SteadiDrone yes.
Rob, yes, modified custom Saito
JB, typo, which has been corrected, span is 2760mm, stall speed is around 13m/s, lots of photos on the website.
Tom, thanks for the comments, can assure you it's very much real and been in development and flown for the last 9-12 months.
Julian, more info on pricing coming Monday.
Pascal, 2.8m span, we've limited payload to 1kg but this can increase depending on fuel/batteries used etc
18"x12" is not a very common setup, 18x6-7" will lift 3.5 Kg with powerfull motors (and 6-8s batteries) and with 12Kg tow they will be almost maxed up at hover, with a very narrow usefull range and far from max efficiency.
It's a nice looking aircraft, but the vtol configurationsetup is inefficient from every angle you look at it...(aerodinamic, volume, weight) and the result is high wing load. Too high even for an acrobatic glider of that size...
Regarding the electric drives for the VTOL mode, I would guess that you should be able to lift 12kg with 4 18''-props. A short calculation in ecalc.ch proves that using e.g. Plettenberg motor Xtra 25-12 (265kV) with a 6S setup and 18x12 props can bring more than 15kg thrust.
Yep it was a typo, its 2760 @ Tom it has flown.
The wing span must definitely be a typo mistake. If you look at the picture on their homepage, the guy holding the plane must otherwise be a midget... I'd estimate it at about 3m, at least. Although I think that 1kg payload can take quite a bit of sensors, it's still low in comparison to the 12kg MTOW.
Looks unattainably pricey.
says "It’s wind tunnel tested" which translates to "never been flown". Call me when this thing is real.