Pyka, a Potential Fire Supression Vehicle

Dean Sigler Autonomous Aircraft, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Pyka is an innovative company that’s been flying autonomously for over seven years.  Currently used in agricultural crop spraying and dusting operations, it seems to this editor that it could be a superb fire suppression vehicle.  Pyka’s youthful and exuberant crew would certainly be up to the task. Pyka’s latest product is a four-motor variant of their crop-spraying agricultural aircraft.  Holding 70 gallons of crop-fertilizing or bug-fighting liquid, the Cub-size craft can treat crops autonously, Because it’s autonomous with no pilot, Pyka is not risking anyone on board and can still fly after dark on its LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging)-based guidance. Interesting Engineering.com explains, “this technology utilizes pulsed lasers to accurately and constantly measure distances to a given target or area. LiDAR sensors are essentially light-based measurement and mapping tools that are incredibly useful in a variety of sectors.” Besides that, it has the coolest position lights of anything in the air. Pyka announced a partnership with Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft company, five …

Pyka: All Red and Green and Unpiloted

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Appearing in a festive nighttime garb of red and green lights, Pyka’s aerial sprayer has been authorized by Costa Rica’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) to fly unpiloted aerial spraying missions at night. Pelican night spray missions are a go! Pyka recently secured the world’s first regulatory approval for nighttime aerial spray operations with a fixed-wing UAS. Read more about this industry breakthrough here – https://t.co/3SdOndk6pu#flypyka pic.twitter.com/c6aZv8vWhs — Pyka (@flypyka) November 2, 2022 The fully autonomous, all electric craft is now approved to spray large banana plantations – both day and night.  Since the aircraft flies well-defined routes daily, spraying crops at night should be no different. This first-ever regulatory approval to fly unmanned aerial spray missions at night with a fixed wing aircraft is a simple expansion of what Pyka’s been doing in New Zealand and Central America for the last few years. As reported in 2020, “Pyka seems as much about software as aerodynamics.  Its FPGA (Field …

EmbraerX and Pyka Team Up

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Accelerating Innovation Embraer, a major Brazilian airframe developer, and Pyka, an Oakland, California-based autonomous agricultural aircraft builder, are teaming up.  They hope, “To accelerate the future of autonomous aerial agriculture operations.”  Beyond that, Pyka is expanding into regional air transport which could open 5,000 U. S. airports to usually unserved areas. Pyka has flown autonomous agricultural aircraft in New Zealand for over two years, demonstrating high efficiency and economy in aerial application, or crop dusting (or spraying) as it’s historically called.  Apparently, the island nation’s Part 101 and 102 civil aviation licensing requirements are receptive to such flight.  According to Dan Grossman, Pyka’s new President (and formerly of Zipcar, Ford and Maven), Pelican made more than 3,000 flights. Airframer.com reports, “Grossman joins a team of former Joby Aviation, Google, Wisk, Makani and Saildrone engineers and leaders. ‘Electric and hydrogen propulsion technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the future of human mobility,’ he says. ‘Pyka’s benchmark-setting electric propulsion systems, …