Autonimous flight

[flying dog]

Wow!

 

 

[FlyBoy1960]

There was a Pipistrel that was flown unmanned by JSOC from Vandenberg in California to Edenborough Air Force Base in South Australia about 10 years ago via Guam. The entire flight was completed/flown out of White Sands in New Mexico.

The referenced video might be the first time it was done in Australia by the RAAF but it is by far nothing new.   

I will see if I can find the link again it was a very interesting read. The longest endurance was something like 38 hours from the airframe in its "normal" configuration.

I found this  tinyurl.com/2ym5ddnu   but it does not refer to the flight into South Australia, but an accident in Iraq of the same airframe type. This flight to South Australia was from over 10 years ago, imagine what they are doing now.

[T510]

An Australian company, Aerosonde, did an autonomous unmanned Tran Atlantic flight it 1998.

 

https://www.washington.edu/news/1998/08/21/aerosonde-robotic-airplane-completes-historic-trans-atlantic-flight/

[Moneybox]

I wonder how your autonomous aircraft would land at Eucla?

 

 

Am I dyslexic or just reading it incorrectly?

 

Which runway would you choose?

 

[flying dog]

MoneyBox,

 

I'd be a bit worried because the picture shows 17/35 and yet the text says there is 18/36.

and 08/26 but the text says 09/27.

 

But to WHICH runway......    I'd say like any time you are landing:  Depends on the winds/conditions

 

Edited August 27 by flying dog

[T510]

11 hours ago, Moneybox said:

I wonder how your autonomous aircraft would land at Eucla?

 

 

Am I dyslexic or just reading it incorrectly?

 

Which runway would you choose?

 

The one that best suits the weather conditions.

 

In the early days of the Aerosonde they used to use human pilots on the controls for the take off and landing phases, very much like a RC aeroplane.

 

Pretty quickly worked out that the autonomous autopilot did a much better job than the human equivalent. By using the autopilot the cases of take off and landing incidents was reduced massively

[Moneybox]

Yes I know you'd prefer to land up wind but if you or the autonomous plane were looking for runways 9, 27, 18 or 36 as listed in OzRunways you might have a problem even though there are eight to chose from.

[facthunter]

Runway deliniations are rounded of to A magnetic reference. Magnetic variation changes and is different at most Places..   Nev

[Moneybox]

19 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Runway deliniations are rounded of to A magnetic reference. Magnetic variation changes and is different at most Places..   Nev

That doesn't quite explain why OzRunways shows YECL an illustration of various runways but shows a different layout in OzRunways Airfield Guide. What does the autonomous vehicle use as a reference? 

[BrendAn]

On 24/08/2026 at 10:08 AM, FlyBoy1960 said:

There was a Pipistrel that was flown unmanned by JSOC from Vandenberg in California to Edenborough Air Force Base in South Australia about 10 years ago via Guam. The entire flight was completed/flown out of White Sands in New Mexico.

The referenced video might be the first time it was done in Australia by the RAAF but it is by far nothing new.   

I will see if I can find the link again it was a very interesting read. The longest endurance was something like 38 hours from the airframe in its "normal" configuration.

I found this  tinyurl.com/2ym5ddnu   but it does not refer to the flight into South Australia, but an accident in Iraq of the same airframe type. This flight to South Australia was from over 10 years ago, imagine what they are doing now.

I remember the Grumman global hawk that flew autonomous from Edwards air force base in California to the raaf base in South aus.

25 yrs ago 

[440032]

On 28/08/2026 at 9:40 AM, T510 said:

The one that best suits the weather conditions.

 

In the early days of the Aerosonde they used to use human pilots on the controls for the take off and landing phases, very much like a RC aeroplane.

 

Pretty quickly worked out that the autonomous autopilot did a much better job than the human equivalent. By using the autopilot the cases of take off and landing incidents was reduced massively

Aerosonde began their early trials using the Geelong Model Aircraft club field at Batesford. Pilot was David HOBBY.

I recall one time they did a 24 hour flight or something like that. Just circling around within a few miles.

Didn't stop us flying RC those days, all very casual.

[T510]

53 minutes ago, 440032 said:

Aerosonde began their early trials using the Geelong Model Aircraft club field at Batesford. Pilot was David HOBBY.

I recall one time they did a 24 hour flight or something like that. Just circling around within a few miles.

Didn't stop us flying RC those days, all very casual.

I remember flying out of the Geelong Model Aircraft Club with Aerosonde.

 

Aerosonde also used a test facility out past Hamilton in Western Victoria. Their record endurance flight was done out there, just under 39 hours on one tank of fuel.

 

Dave Hobby is a great RC pilot, 2 times world champion. 

 

Probably a bit too casual back in the day, we didn't even need licences in the early days of UAV's. All training was don in house

[BrendAn]

2 hours ago, T510 said:

I remember flying out of the Geelong Model Aircraft Club with Aerosonde.

 

Aerosonde also used a test facility out past Hamilton in Western Victoria. Their record endurance flight was done out there, just under 39 hours on one tank of fuel.

 

Dave Hobby is a great RC pilot, 2 times world champion. 

 

Probably a bit too casual back in the day, we didn't even need licences in the early days of UAV's. All training was don in house

Hobby is a great surname for an RC pilot. 😁