Gippsland sold to Indian automotive and IT company

Gippsland sold to Indian automotive and IT company: "The acquisition of a majority stake in Australian general aviation manufacturer Gippsland Aeronautics by Indian automotive and information technology group Mahindra�and Mahindra is expected to close shortly.
The acquisition will allow Victorian company Gippsland to restart production of the Nomad twin-turboprop, high-wing, short-field take-off and landing aircraft, which it has renamed the Airvan GA18.
Mahindra announced late in 2009 that it planned to purchase majority stakes in Gippsland and aircraft component and assemblies company Aerostaff Australia in a Rp1.75 billion ($38 million) deal. Mahindra, which is best known for utility vehicle and tractor manufacture, is jointly developing the NM5 general aviation aircraft with India's National Aeronautics Laboratory. Gippsland's product portfolio, which primarily comprises the GA8 Airvan, complements the NM5, says Mahindra."

The investment from Mahindra will cover the GA18 programme, says sales manager Marguerite Morgan. Gippsland is proposing an upgraded version of the 18-seat Nomad, featuring new engines, propellers, a glass cockpit and weight-saving measures including new batteries.

Gippsland purchased the certificate of type for the Nomad from Boeing Australia in June 2008, but the programme has slipped by six months, says Morgan, with a production aircraft now expected to be ready by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

The manufacturer has letters of intent for nine aircraft, plus expressions of interest, with considerable international attention shown at the recent Singapore air show, says Morgan.

UAV pioneer unveils new design for long-endurance VTOL aircraft

Tad McGeer, an unmanned aircraft pioneerwho designed the Aerosonde and ScanEagle, has now unveiled a vertical take-off and landing, long-endurance aircraft in the same size class called Flexrotor.

The 19kg (42lb) Flexrotor is designed to challenge the ScanEagle for the commercial and military surveillance markets, says McGeer, president of Washington-based start-up Aerovel. McGeer's goal is to dramatically reduce the cost of long-endurance aircraft, which he believes remains uncompetitive with even short-range manned aircraft for the same missions.

The Aerosonde and ScanEagle both required catapults for launch, and the latter used a patented SkyHook for recovery. Although the craneoffered more convenience than the Aerosonde's need for a runway, both aircraft required carrying and operating large and heavy launch and recovery equipment.

McGeer has designed the gasoline-fuelled Flexrotor with VTOL capability to simplify and reduce the cost of launch and recovery. The system includes an automated turnaround system, which retrieves, parks, refuels and launches the aircraft by itself, he says.

The V-tailed Flexrotor takes off and lands in a nose-up attitude thatrecalls tailsitter designs, although the tail never touches the ground. A roughly 3m (10ft)-span wing provides lift in forward flight. In hover, the Flexrotor's oversized propeller becomes a rotor. Meanwhile, wing-tip thrusters are deployed to provide an anti-torque force.

A 1kg payload suitable for imaging or geomagnetic surveying is stowedin a non-rotating nose. For the surveying application, the system shouldallow a single operator to control 10 aircraft at the same time, he says.

McGeer declines to reveal details about the Flexrotor's base station while a patent application is pending.

He plans to launch flight-testing on a testbed in mid-2010. A transoceanic flight demonstration is scheduled in two years, with production beginning in late 2012.

In the early 1990s, McGeer co-founded Insitu, and developed first the Aerosonde and then the ScanEagle. AAI has since bought the rights to the Aerosonde, and Boeing has acquired Insitu with the ScanEagle.

Meanwhile, McGeer created Aerovel four years ago using private funding as well as small business grants from the Defense AdvancedResearch Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research.