Richard Glassock, a long-time contributor to the blog, is from Australia, and has lived and worked in Hungary for the last few years. He’s known to blog readers for his work in autonomous aircraft, very large sailplanes, and hybrid propulsion design. He shares news this week about “some excellent work by an Australian researcher I have known for a while. In one way or another, he is actualizing many of the ideas/dreams I had 20 years ago.” The craft isVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing), fixed wing, capable of automated flight, and is almost a hybrid (depending on definition). It was developed for the Outback Challenge, originally a chance for aircraft designers to show how their craft could autonomously search for and find Outback Joe, a mannequin layabout who would otherwise become dingo bait. The 2014 event “was themed around an outback rescue mission.” 2016 sees Joe “stuck in a clearing in the Australian Outback, surrounded by floodwaters, but needs to …
