4 ms·

Calling it a 'drone' kind of understates the accomplishment here. :) Navy drones have already taken off from and been recovered onto ships, in the VTOL configur

by mpyne 13y ago

Calling it a 'drone' kind of understates the accomplishment here. :) Navy drones have already taken off from and been recovered onto ships, in the VTOL configuration. This is essentially an unmanned jet aircraft. It recently successfully managed a catapult-assisted takeoff from a carrier. Now it has completed the other end of the deal, an arrested landing. (i.e. it had to catch its tailhook on one of the arresting wires, execute a proper glide path descent onto a moving platform, etc.)

griffordson 13y ago
While this is an accomplishment, I'm much more impressed by difficult manned arrested landings like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGMI8d3vLs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGMI8d3vLs But it is just a matter of time before that type of landing is part of the historical archive.
spartango 13y ago
Not only is this an unmanned aircraft, it is an autonomous (as opposed to remotely piloted) aircraft. This means that instead of a human controlling the landing, the aircraft was instructed to land and executed the descent and landing on its own. Anyone who's been involved in carrier operations will tell you that landing a jet on the deck is non-trivial even with experience. The fact that an aircraft can do this autonomously is quite impressive.
tomgirl1 13y ago
I have to disagree. You are being fooled into thinking that is a stealth fighter or bomber. Its not. It's a drone which is at mini-scale to the actual aircraft you may be referring to. Yes. We have stealth bomber looking drones at 1/3 scale to the actual thing. And to your original point, this is obviously not a first, drones have been taking off and landing from aircraft carriers for years. Why the washington post is reporting this now is a better question. They are clearly out of the loop.
- nether 13y ago
  > drones have been taking off and landing from aircraft carriers for years Fixed wing? Such as?
nether 13y ago
An unmanned jet is a drone, just like the D-21 which flew in 1960s. The big deal with the X-47B is that it landed autonomously and not remotely piloted.

by mpyne 13y ago

griffordson 13y ago

While this is an accomplishment, I'm much more impressed by difficult manned arrested landings like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGMI8d3vLs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGMI8d3vLs But it is just a matter of time before that type of landing is part of the historical archive.

spartango 13y ago

Not only is this an unmanned aircraft, it is an autonomous (as opposed to remotely piloted) aircraft. This means that instead of a human controlling the landing, the aircraft was instructed to land and executed the descent and landing on its own. Anyone who's been involved in carrier operations will tell you that landing a jet on the deck is non-trivial even with experience. The fact that an aircraft can do this autonomously is quite impressive.

tomgirl1 13y ago

I have to disagree. You are being fooled into thinking that is a stealth fighter or bomber. Its not. It's a drone which is at mini-scale to the actual aircraft you may be referring to. Yes. We have stealth bomber looking drones at 1/3 scale to the actual thing. And to your original point, this is obviously not a first, drones have been taking off and landing from aircraft carriers for years. Why the washington post is reporting this now is a better question. They are clearly out of the loop.

nether 13y ago
> drones have been taking off and landing from aircraft carriers for years Fixed wing? Such as?

nether 13y ago

An unmanned jet is a drone, just like the D-21 which flew in 1960s. The big deal with the X-47B is that it landed autonomously and not remotely piloted.