X2.3 to complete first hover flight
The Aero2 is Dufour Aerospace’s tilt-wing drone. The Swiss company has put several prototypes through their paces over the past years. Last week, it achieved another major milestone, as the Aero2 production-ready version — called the “X2.3” — completed its first successful hover flight.
Dufour Aerospace aircraft have hovered and transitioned from vertical take-off to forward flight flown many times, but this was the first hovering flight of the Dufour Aerospace production-ready design.
The next testing phases include transitioning from hover to forward flight, a complex manoeuvre that is crucial for demonstrating the aircraft's full operational capabilities.
The Dufour team has been building up to this phase, methodically and with a view to gaining a certification of the production aircraft in due course. (cj)