First Flight of Piasecki ARES Tilt-Duct VTOL

[@larrysorenson4789]

My father was an Aeronautical engineer, USAF Test Pilot, Rocket Scientist and deputy director of research snd development for the Air Force. He advocated STOL and VTOL technology. The Osprey was one of his programs hampered by the through body driveshafts connecting the engines. He retired in 1969. A visionary.

[@rvail136]

As a proof of concept vehicle this is a great success. I honestly didn't know Piasecki was still around. As far as I can remember, the "Flying Banana" of the late 50s, early 60s was their last aircraft. Well done all.

[@sittinandthinkin]

"After a falling out with other owners, Frank Piasecki and some of his design team left to form Piasecki Aircraft Corporation in 1955.[2]" In the 70 years since 1955, this company doesn't look to have produced much. Unless they are solving problems that are commissioned by other companies for their products. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_Aircraft

[@BaronFeydRautha]

​@@sittinandthinkin Also, didn't the French already do this in the 60s?

[@jojog8304]

Yes good test, but still looks very unstable compared to a traditional heli or the octos variants.

[@krzysztofrusek9096]

@@jojog8304 as every new type of aircraft in the beggining. Hope that there will be progress and commercial use.

[@ASDasdSDsadASD-nc7lf]

Engineers should be nowhere NEAR the design of a new concept..

[@RemoteCamper]

Finally someone is building the aircraft from so many sci-fi movies/shows.

[@MaacAbra]

Exactly what I was gonna say! The oldest similar one I can remember is from Dune 2 computer game 😊

[@54321tts]

Yeah, Terminator 3

[@Sergeantgrunt]

Another video I watched pointed out that the innovations from the 40s-50s were not attainable due to the level of technology, but now we have computer controls and micro this and that. So some of the old designs could be viable with our current level of technology. I say go back and see if they will work. I want my flying car dammit!

[@ahmadrianto291]

Like Scorpions helikopter from Avatar

[@videre8884]

There is an airplane design from Italy from before WWII that looked like one of these engines. Covering the engine and using the fairing as a means of lift is an idea that I think I have seen far too rarely in our time.

[@thomaskroyer3468]

CONGRATULATION, starts to look VERY promising!, can't wait for future updates..

[@retepeyahaled2961]

This must be a very powerful vehicle. The way it is hooked to the ground, it apparently tries to lift the entire planet. Impressive!

[@denzelsmashsymptom4264]

it's for safety so it doesn't crash to the sides

[@retepeyahaled2961]

@@denzelsmashsymptom4264 Multiple cables are need to pull the planet in the right direction.

[@denzelsmashsymptom4264]

@@retepeyahaled2961 retard

[@limogesfarmer6326]

This was a secret mission to move the Earth out of the way of an asteroid. Yes, they saved us all from certain death.

[@aussieblue7132]

We’ll get to the moon yet 👍

[@sumdamwog3133]

It is well pleasing to to see the company that devised the tandem rotor design aircraft (GO Chinook) is still alive and producing innovation still. 👏

[@marktalley5885]

That's what Pi used to tell us, that he created the first dual rotor helicopter. But, in fact the Germans flew their design a couple years earlier, around 1943. I worked for Frank Piasecki 1991-1994 in Essington, PA. We attached a "pusher" propeller to an apache. Tested it next door at boeing wind tunnel. This was a few years after the "Helistat" incident up in Lakehurst, NJ.

[@leemnav]

@@marktalley5885 A tandem and side-by-side helicopter are not the same. The Fw 61 from the German's was a side-by-side helicopter. Piasecki was the first to commercialize a tandem helicopter but as early as 1933 Florinne in Belgium made succesful tests with a tandem configuration. The Fw 61 made it's first free flight in June 1936

[@Spawn-td8bf]

Congrats, good to see you folks are still around. Take care and God Bless.

[@David-uz9qw]

I can see a tonne of use cases for this, especially with resupply between operating bases and troops, as well as in a fleet situation where this small drone could land on decks of ships. Cheaper than a helicopter and pilots and doesn't put the pilot of the VTOL at risk.

[@chrislaf89]

I'm thinking in regards to the current fires going on in SoCal, it could drop fire proof survival pods, or do a rescue.

[@undertow2142]

It could serve as a drone mothership. Besides high end optics and targeting radars it could also be loaded with ~40 FPV drones that could be deployed as targets are identified on a battlefield.

[@babyrob7777]

​@@undertow2142there you go. Even if the fa18 hornets have drone pods that can carry 40 AI FPV drones similar to the ones on black ops 2 lol

[@ASDasdSDsadASD-nc7lf]

No. Engineers should be nowhere NEAR the design of a new concept.

[@sailor5026]

Congratulations. A famous name brought back to life.

[@hefeibao]

Very promising and I hope we see more soon. IMHO, best evtol platform coming out

[@BusterNoggins]

Ducted lift fans are the future of VTOL aviation.

[@Victor-056]

To be honest, they have been a concept for decades now... They just kept being rejected a lot.

[@paullangford8179]

They are also the past of VTOL. Many variants, even small freight planes.

[@ianrobertson3419]

Moller couldn't get it to work, pure thrust vehicles are a dangerous pipe dream.

[@yestermonth]

They suck for lift but their forward speed is great.

[@nadahere]

@@yestermonth Yes, they do 'suck' but the thrust in lift is many times that of propellers.

[@ManDryver]

Congratulations to you all on your tethered flight-test.

[@merrillblair-tl1rt]

This is incredible!! So proud of this project!!

[@f1at111]

It needs four motors, four power systems, and for rotors. And, it should fly with only three if one independent system fails. The redundancy will prevent crashing due to mechanical failure.

[@nadahere]

It has 2 turbo-engines although each small motor is about as expensive as one large one. Same goes fuel fuel burn [$]. I'm struggling with the redundancy-vs-costs issue in my point-to-point personal air mobility VTOL system, the PersonalJet.

[@patrickmundy1966]

Check out the Piasecki Helistat.

[@dcpack]

Damn, they even had a F.O.D walk down in here. So great Piasecki is still doing things.

[@jons1148]

A very interesting design! Looking forward to see what comes down the line.

[@sprites4ever482]

That is such a simple and clever way of making flying road vehicles actually useful!

[@N1originalgazza]

A very interesting concept.....good luck to your team!

[@gaius_enceladus]

Very cool! Nice design! Seems like it is pretty quiet too - that's good to see.

[@barrypooley3192]

Personally as a retired engineer there should be three at least lifting fans to give way more stability and control but I'm intreaged to how it's going to develop with just two fans Well done so far guys 👏👏🤝🤝

[@patrickl2195]

Looks like a Nord Aviation N 500 Cadet from 1965. Maybe it’s time has come.

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

Not really, this is just a wing with motors... it seems to be completely modular & self contained.

[@bobthompson4918]

There's definitely similarities..

[@brianboot8623]

I was thinking the same thing 😅

[@Deviation4360]

Thankyou for introducing me to yet another forgotten design from history 👍

[@trplankowner3323]

Great job Piasecki! It's good to see you all making progress in this field. I'm certain there is a lot of potential for these vehicles. We certainly could have used them in Western North Carolina recently. (Provided FEMA didn't interfere)

[@alanwebb3454]

The commercial entrepreneurs always win. Well done.

[@Rennrogue]

I imagine you collected enormous amouts of data from that test. Congratulations!

[@Valleycreekproductions]

Congratulations to Piasecki on this major milestone in unmanned vertical flight!! It was exciting to witness and capture content of ARES first flight, look forward to working with you again soon!

[@MarkMcRay]

I like your design. You did it perfect, mounting the fans close to the fuselage and just tilting the whole wing. Exactly the way they should make the osprey and bell v22 tiltrotor. Way more stable, way less problems. Sometimes the best designs are opposed for personal reasons.

[@vikrantvijit1436]

Great Proof of Concept. Very innovative product technology.😊❤

[@VacuousCat]

The heritage of VZ-8 Airgeep.

[@The-KP]

Good eye! Similar designs.

[@wexer82]

It looks amazing, I wonder what the range is.

[@dandaniels851]

The flying bedstead is back 🙌

[@scopex2749]

OUTSTANDING now we want to see a passenger one built.

[@dunzek943]

Aren't helicopters well engineered already to be that?

[@videre8884]

There is an airplane design from Italy from before WWII that looked like one of these engines. Covering the engine and using the fairing as a means of lift is an idea that I think I have seen far too rarely in our time.

[@physicsguybrian]

"You got like 3 feet of air that time" - Napoleon Dynamite

[@jpdunamislodge]

Heck yes! That thing looks awesome. A little more tweaking and cash is all that you need. Can’t wait to see VTOL AT10 Warthog version of that set up.

[@cardboardcrawlersrc8805]

Looking great folks. Keep up the great work.

[@kevinrogers2774]

Excellent work, looking forward to the future with this innovation.

[@chinesecrested9528]

My father was part of a team at north American Rockwell in the 60' & 70's who designed the VTOL craft that the lunar lander on the mission to the moon was based on. I still have the photos of the craft in flight

[@rogerbarrett8744]

This reminds me of the first attempts at VTOL tests for the "Flying Bedstead", The Harrier Jump Jet known in the States as the AV8-B way back in the 1950's. Congratulations.

[@Bob10009]

Av8A

[@Horus2Osiris]

Looking good. Love the design! ❤

[@Blue0cean]

These advances WILL CHANGE everything; just think how much land can become usable with transportation like this and then a tiny house on SAT. Internet, Solar Power, Heat, Water from condensers. Presto! The best of isolation and zipping into urban visits. Congrats !!

[@htomerif]

So if I'm right, the rotor tilts are locked together. It seems to have some roll and left-right translation stability issues when the rotors are vertical which would translate to yaw instability in forward flight. I'm not sure why there isn't just a cross on the thrust vectoring instead of the one control surface. You're relying on the reaction time of the variable blade pitch for control of an entire axis. I suspect this won't be viable until that specifically is changed.

[@QRoberts]

great concept can't wait to more development for the future

[@aytviewer2421]

@0:35: FOD Walkdown! Now that takes me back 40 or so years! Yet I never did one at a land based facility. Cool to see.

[@marsrocket]

It’s huge. What market is this supposed to play in?

[@almirria6753]

Hey it looks like they are going back to the future. This reminds me of a lot of the early tilt rotor aircraft of the 50s & 60s where the whole wing & engine nacelles moved and there was not a lot of interconnection between both engines

[@DakkaDakka12]

Awesome to see more VTOL aircraft, but what is the value this design grants over older tilt rotor designs like the v-22 osprey?

[@kurttate9446]

Saw this a few years ago on Pop Mech or Pop Sci or maybe Aviation Week. Glad to see progress on the actual vehicle.

[@mikebikekite1]

Great looking design. Can I ask why it sways so much from side to side?

[@syamriothman4298]

Orca fighter and the avatar gunship! Finally!

[@sergeigen1]

beautiful design!

[@augustojanisckijunior2538]

Weel done !!!!! Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

How about a video explaining your progress to date, along with what your aims are?

[@SpookyDookySr]

Company: Let’s call it ARES Some Military: We’d like to buy some

[@limogesfarmer6326]

I love this! I set so many uses for this. I can't wait until this is a viable product, for I see lots of business opportunities.

[@garthlee8166]

10/10 to the team keep going and please share the forward path

[@dr.OgataSerizawa]

Try some punctuation.

[@autopartss]

What is the rated load capacity?

[@N8086E]

I applaud R&D and the simplistic design but asymmetric thrust is real. How do you rectify single engine ops? Maybe an auto parachute system but you have to have altitude.

[@nadahere]

It has 2 turbo-engines although each small motor is about as expensive as one large one. Same goes fuel fuel burn [$]. I'm struggling with the redundancy-vs-costs issue in my point-to-point personal air mobility VTOL system, the PersonalJet.

[@ericeinar]

So would this be a fan in a large warehouse?

[@infidel14825]

Can you imagine ordering a large piece of freight and having it arrive at your house, ramp opens, you unload it and then hit the button, ramp closed and it arrives back at the company.

[@muskyelondragon]

Yes

[@tulpamade2767]

Pick up the trailer behind you with it yet?

[@oso_nomada]

If I squint…I can see the VTOL Jump jets we’ve been watching in movies and animations, since we were kids!

[@ruskiwaffle1991]

Piasecki keeping up with their tradition of making batshit onsane rotorcraft, I see.

[@EngineeringFun]

I love complex, expensive and useless contraptions, especially with funny names like Piasecki. They are a testament of the human creativity.

[@dcpack]

Kind of disrespectful to Piasecki. Research their history.

[@ngroy8636]

As always, how is this going to be powered, and how long can it stay in the air.

[@findingretirement6649]

Curious what the payload and range are but this vehicle seems very promising for dozens of roles.

[@CarlosHlavacek]

Felicitaciones, un gran trabajo!!! Aun hay mucho que hacer.

[@HatchMonarch]

I may have the killer application... Will this be affordable for fleet operation? 🦋

[@intrepidpursuit]

Will that be stable in forward flight without a tailplane?

[@IN-ud2ks]

Are you trying to build Samson?

[@billmadison2032]

Can you imagine how loud that damn thing is going to be. You can hear a tiny drone from 200 ft they can probably hear it from the delivery point

[@jchoward6451]

Have you heard the V-22 Osprey? It's quite loud too. Maybe the ducted fans will help get a bit extra thrust for the noise they'll make, I don't know, but this is an impressive technology demonstrator.

[@pahtar7189]

@@jchoward6451: The V-22 is substantially quieter than the helicopters it's replacing except when taking off.

[@yestermonth]

​@@jchoward6451 True, they have been different methods of slapping noise cancelling tech in ducted fan drones, it won't cancel the entire noise but will reduce it.

[@PeterTurr]

Looks good. How high is the pressure calculated? And how strong is the plus/minus G design? Do you use or prefer a pitch? What about minimizing the moving parts? Peter

[@sniddley]

Congratulations team!

[@WhiteAce3]

Wow. Looks pretty stable in flight. But the cargo container was still empty right? Would be interesting to see how moving load (like fluids or bad fixed stuff) would effect the flight stability. But the downwash must be heavy. Can you stay close to it without getting blown away?

[@nomad300z4]

Из канализационной трубы склеили?

[@mark261166]

What current mode of transport will this replace. What part of the market is it aimed at.

[@mho...]

safe & rescue ship to ship (supply) transfers science stuff in remote areas mail&co to remote islands ....etc, everything that wouldnt need the pilot to "get out" or endanger a person

[@RavenswoodProductions]

What is/are the powerplant(s)? Is this all-electric or ?

[@richardcorwin1828]

Autonomous delivery system? Always have liked to VTOL concepts since the early 60's.

[@id104335409]

How long before realising a drone with only 2 ducts is too difficult to operate?

[@homworld]

is the undercarage with wheels going to stay or is it going to have a redesign?

[@RA-II]

well done!! when will start emergence EVAC to Hospitals

[@limogesfarmer6326]

This could revolutionize shipping in urban areas: imagine having your shipping and receiving on the roof of a building. Trucks no longer have to navigate through gridlock to get to and from their destination. If you do multiple deliveries in a day, you do off one full pod, and pick up an empty pod for the return trip. That kind of efficiency would outpace transport trucks.

[@derekfinch9586]

Looks like half a Bell X-22. Could also be used to extract wounded personnel.

[@kirkvoelcker5272]

Perhaps we will get a modern rendition of the Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep.

[@Kreider811]

How smooth are you able to transition from forward flight back to Hover with the tilt wing? Traditionally it has been almost impossible.

[@GearboxEnt]

What's the useable payload on this, and what is the power source?

[@leeg9292]

Does this mean we could see a real version of the avatar helicopters being made?

[@alishanmao]

Congratulations but seems like more programming or weight shifts needed because it's tilted at one side during hover after pod was added

[@JackFelker]

So how much weight does it lift? How stable in strong winds? What’s the flight speed? Didn’t look very stable.

[@SumatraXSI5]

So unless I'm understanding this wrong, this concept is like the Sirkosky S-64 but as a drone?

[@michaelbohlander6711]

Wow it's very stable

[@HVM_fi]

How you solved the ducted fan's self stabilization problem?

[@gettinthingsdonemusic9876]

Where do you mount the 150kW laser?

[@davidholmgren659]

Brilliant! Well done!

[@josega6338]

GR8! Does it make any sense cutting the upper half part of Fan Shroud, testing it as a Custer Channel Wing machine? Blessings+

[@broughxtreme]

Just the same as the Osprey which has open blades and not ducted blades? Lets hope this would be a bit more reliable. How many have died in Osprey crashes?

[@umsatz-magnetug1986]

Is it driving the props with a combustion engine through a gearbox or running a generator? The most crashes of conventional helicopters are caused by gearbox failures. So i hope i doesn’t have twice as much.

[@ptonpc]

Congratulations :)

[@carlosfabianmaciel9643]

Well done people!!!!! Nice design!!!!!

[@marvinellis1517]

More like a first hover than flight.. .❤