Robinson Unmanned R44 Airtruck Flies Offshore Cargo Demos

Robinson Unmanned’s R44 Airtruck flew a series of offshore cargo demonstrations at Acadiana Regional Airport (KARA) in New Iberia, Louisiana, on September 2 and 3, making repeated approaches to a platform rigged to simulate an offshore deck.

Aviation Academy of Louisiana, the state’s only authorized Robinson dealer and service center, conducted the flights, with offshore helicopter operator PHI Aviation and invited industry and government observers attending. Robinson said the flights covered cargo loading and unloading, elevated deck landings, precision positioning, and airspace integration while operating with a two-person crew: one remote pilot and one ground-based visual observer.

Torrance, California-based Robinson builds the Airtruck on its piloted R44 rotorcraft, adapting it for remote operation with the RPX flight system from Rotor Technologies of Nashua, New Hampshire. The Airtruck has a 1,002-pound useful load, 63 cubic feet of internal volume, a cruise speed of 109 knots, and a 14,000-foot maximum operating altitude. It is currently flying in the experimental category in the U.S., and Robinson says the aircraft has commercial approval in Brazil.

Robinson unveiled the Robinson Unmanned business unit at Verticon in March, when president and CEO David Smith laid out an “era of both,” pairing crewed and uncrewed aircraft. “This is the ‘era of both’ in practice: the same airframe, the same parts, and the same people supporting manned or unmanned missions,” he said.