For those here interested in the advances of aviation; N190TC is airborne and flying from North Dakota to the UK.

Flight time is approx. 12 hours.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N190TC

quote:

Meduim Altitude RPA

Had to look that up. Interesting.

So the speed is showing 201 vs. planned 451. Why would that be?

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Meduim Altitude RPA

Had to look that up. Interesting.

So the speed is showing 201 vs. planned 451. Why would that be?

It cannot do 451 of anything lol

I think 180 is its cruising speed.

Has enough gas for a 48 hour flight so all's good.

Also a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) flies above normal traffic. This aircraft flies in the midst of commercial aircraft (20K to 40K ft).

Not enough information for a non-aviation geek:

https://www.suasnews.com/2018/...-for-fairford-debut/

Like all RPA stuff = like watching paint dry.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Like all RPA stuff = like watching paint dry.

But it's a "pretty" haze gray paint on a place with a six-foot (nearly) wing root and 79-foot wing span.

Remotely piloted? A little interesting. Antonymous? That would be significantly interesting. I bet the air freight industry would be watching that one closely.

I have to wonder if Boeing is working on unmanned version of the 767/777F.

RPA (or UAS) fly w/o chase planes all the time, though I've never heard of such a long range flight for the Reaper. Global Hawk, yes.

Here's something I posted to another thread a few weeks ago:

174 Attack Wing (NY ANG) flies Reapers out of the Syracuse Airport (SYR), no chase planes for them. I was in the unit 35+ years ago with primitive, manned A-10s, they later converted to F-16s and then to the Reapers. IIRC, most of their UAS flying is over the Adirondacks or Lake Ontario.

I think most other military UAS flights operate over less populated areas from Grand Forks, Beale, Creech, and maybe Cannon.

http://www.174attackwing.ang.af.mil/

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KSYR

KSYR Remarks:

UAS OPERATE WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE SYRACUSE CLASS C, TIMES VARY.

UAS OPS IN SYRACUSE APCH/DEP AIRSPACE WILL BE CONTROLLED BY SYR ATC AT ALL TIMES.


I'm sure it's related, but 30 miles east of SYR at the former Griffiss AFB is a major UAS research site:

http://www.ocgov.net/airport

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KRME

Sigmund, you are corrct about the aircraft flying without a chase however; the aircraft were flying in segregated (restricted) airspace when the chase was not used.

In the case of the Global Hawk; this is a HALE. It departs from an airport in segregated airspace (military facility), halos up to a high altitude (which, surprisingly, is restricted airspace), then fly's to its destination and halos down in the restricted airspace.

The end goal of the SkyGuardian aircraft will provide the user the ability to "file and fly" from a general aviation airport and transit to a similar airport - as required.

After 24.1 hours of flight, the RPA landed via a SATCOM link using Automatic Take-Off and Landing Capability (ATLC).

45% of its fuel load remaining.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
After 24.1 hours of flight, the RPA landed via a SATCOM link using Automatic Take-Off and Landing Capability (ATLC).

45% of its fuel load remaining.

The ATLC is impressive. AFAIK, the AF Reapers have two elements: The launch and recovery team (with the aircraft) and the pilot & sensor operator (anywhere in the world like Creech, Des Moines, Syracuse, Willow Grove, etc.).

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
After 24.1 hours of flight, the RPA landed via a SATCOM link using Automatic Take-Off and Landing Capability (ATLC).

45% of its fuel load remaining.

The ATLC is impressive. AFAIK, the AF Reapers have two elements: The launch and recovery team (with the aircraft) and the pilot & sensor operator (anywhere in the world like Creech, Des Moines, Syracuse, Willow Grove, etc.).

As I understand it, the assessment is correct.

The aircraft is controlled locally for the take-off/landing process(es) who then perform a hand-off (via SATCOM) to an aircrew elsewhere in the world.

SATCOM ATLC is a major achievement for customers.