End of an era, or a new beginning ?? X47B launching from the George W.
 

A video of the first carrier based launch of the X47B UCAS from the George W Bush. Not quite the same as a Tomcat :sad:

How did it fare in the flare ? Or did it land at some AFB ?

Recovered at Pax River Naval Air Station to do some more arrested recovery trials, I believe. Once they're done, some more shipboard trials to come.

Is it me or don't you think its odd that the deck marshal is giving visual signals to an unmanned drone???? :confused:

It's not just the UCAV he's communicating with........

Quote:

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It's not just the UCAV he's communicating with......

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It's the cyborg inside that the signals are for. :E

I think it prefers the term "artificial person".....etc etc.

Dunno why the deck crew are applauding - half of them will be out of a job as a consequence!

The rotary wing guys are ahead of the suck and blow folks on this. HSL-42 has already deployed with a mix of SH-60 Seahawk and MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV's on a frigate.

Look for a mixed manned and unmanned airwing on CVs in a few years. (I'll guess IOC is 5-8 years from now, once the carrier landing issue is sorted to NAVAIR's satisfaction. )

That's the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush.

Groundcrew out of a job,think again:D

HH

Normal deck practice has the marshaller in charge. He is in the best postion, trained etc. So the pilot ALWAYS follows his instructions. Just like the pilot of this aircraft (when it comes to taxing stuff) who has his control kit strapped all over him (please nobody talk about a suicide vest).

That's one big reminder as to why we should have gone with JSF-C :ugh::ugh::ugh:

I mean should have bought F/A-18s :ok:

Everyone on deck does their thing normally except for the bloke with the remote control widget, who watches the marshaller's hand signals and drives the aircraft appropriately.

The widget is cumbersome but it works. The next step will be to replace the widget with some Wii-type device that the marshaller can wear without too much difficulty.

The aircraft in turn uses lights to replace any pilot signals - for instance, flashing wingtip lights take the place of the "OK to launch" salute.

SHJ,
'How did it fare in the flare ? Or did it land at some AFB ?'

Maybe the cyborg was a Dos Gringos fan and always wanted to take off from a carrier but never land? Mind you, didn't see the little roll after take off....


Ignore the Flt Sim and enjoy the song!!

Future Robot Aircraft Hand Signal Control Recognition
 

The future for robotic aircraft deck/ashore control direct from hand signals to robot recognition perhaps....

The next step in directing drones: hand signals By Joshua Stewart 01 Apr 2012

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/0...gnals-040112w/
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Multi-Signal Gesture Recognition Using Body and Hand Poses by Yale Song

http://rationale.csail.mit.edu/publi...10SMThesis.pdf (9Mb)
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Guiding robot planes with hand gestures

"Published on Mar 13, 2012 / MIT News - March 14, 2012
Aircraft-carrier crew use a set of standard hand gestures to guide..."

Great, that means if it works the robotic aircraft will park where the liney wants it to, rather than where the pilot does.....

Does that mean that the pre-flight flight control checks will be done with style and panache, rather than the race between the pilot and the liney a la Jaguar, which ends with the liney apparently disco dancing on the line whilst trying to keep up?

John F - my comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek

I presumed that the guys with the Play Stations were watching him and that it really would be stupid to come up with a new set of hand signals for a possible one-off occasion

order, counter-order, disorder....................

Time line looks good for them to be integrated with our new cat and trap equipped carri.... ah, smeg.

1st X-47B Cat with WAVE OFF at END of (Goofer View)
 

X-47B Completes First Carrier-based Launch (Long) 3

"Published on May 14, 2013 130514N-SI489-001
The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) completed its first ever carrier-based catapult launch from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia"

X-47B Completes First Carrier-based Launch (Long) 3 - YouTube

CLICK Thumbnails for Big Pic:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...aunchLong3.jpg http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nchLong3-1.jpg http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nchLong3-2.jpg