I just went to their website to watch their video - it really is carefully edited smoke and mirrors.

Is there a R44 with a certified 4-axis AP flying?

What parts were smoke and mirrors?

Negative. Just the Genesys HeliSAS.

The startup, taxi, takeoff, transition, approach and landing. We saw an acceleration, a speed reduction, a climb and some turns.

Helisas is only 2 axis for Robbies according to the link - only 3 axis for Bell 505.

To do what they claim - ie fly a helicopter with 3 fingers from take off to landing, you need a 4 -axis autopilot.

If you watch this video, and are willing to believe what you see (which is entirely up to you), they clearly have the ability to pickup into a hover, depart from a hover, and invert that same process.


It is most instructive to watch all of the videos they have posted on Youtube. They have several years into this, have flown a fully autonomous Mosquito helicopter, and are now quite brilliantly moving into what is the world's most popular, and soon to be numerous, helicopter type.

I don't doubt they have all those capabilities. None of them require any sort of new technology. They could (and probably did) put this system together out of catalog parts. The only thing new would be the user interface and perhaps some control law software.

The most interesting part of the Jon Hamm video is the blurred out second iPad. It make me wonder what sort of proprietary info might be displayed there. But that is just me with my "curious engineer" hat on. I don't think they are trying to put anything over on anyone by blurring that screen.

That is correct. It is also irrelevant to the discussion.

Of course they do. And they must have one by definition. If you believe all of their videos then clearly they have installed such a system. Certainly it is in an uncertified/experimental state at this time.

The guy in the RHS is clearly flying the collective for lift to the hover and landing. Smoke and mirrors.

If there is no 4-axis autopilot certified for the R44, how are they doing it? Pixies? Leprechauns?

They have the i-pad talking to a basic pitch and roll servo to allow very basic autopilot functions - that is it.

They could have adapted RC helicopter autopilot components to make it work.

Did you watch all the Skyryse videos as suggested? This video clearly shows no one touching the controls in a stable hover. Left side controls are not in. The collective is moving on it's own, presumably by virtue of an autopilot.


Why would there need to be a certified 4-axis autopilot to make this happen? It's irrelevant. Clearly Skyryse has developed a 4-axis, uncertified, brand new, experimental autopilot for the 44.

Unless this is a blatant fake on par with the Theranos debacle, and IMHO it is not based on the available video evidence, that would not be correct.

Watch all the videos, particularly the one posted here.

Watched it - the careful editing means you can't see if there is a left hand collective fitted as well even though there is only the right hand half of the cyclic.

He doesn't take his feet off the pedals when he lets go of the other controls in the hover.

It doesn't take off and land by itself.

Yes you can see the collective move so they may have an experimental autopilot fit but I would have to see it fly a take off, a complete circuit and a landing without the human intervention on the controls to even be slightly convinced.

I have been flying aircraft with 4 -axis APs for many years that can go from hover to hover so it's not ground breaking technology.

This is precisely what I've already written at least twice in this thread, and why I believe they are doing what they claim. It's merely an exercise in user interface design and control laws for them.

But they claim to have a helicopter you can fly from that interface which is only partly true - when it lifts to the hover, flys a circuit and lands afterwards - all done through the interface, then you can believe their claims.

It seems to me they are peddling a half-truth to those without enough knowledge to question their results.

Haven't watched the videos, but if the system started the piston engine, waited for the CHT to rise to normal operating temperature, accounted for abnormal vibrations, did a L-R mag check, a carby heat check, a manifold pressure check, a freewheeling check, a TR check, a light-on-the-skids check, then picks up the helicopter into the hover and does an available power check, then I would be quite impressed. If it still needs a human for this then less so.

Certification and regulatory issues aside, using off the shelf RC technology wouldn't be that hard to adapt. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they did, using something like this.

https://navio2.emlid.com/ $170 for the brains capable of full autonomous flight.