There were two presentations on the Swift ultralight flying wing at this year’s Electric Aircraft Symposium. Dr Steve Morris of the MLB Company related the flight testing of a manned version of the craft, which had been and is being modified by a group of NASA researchers. That NASA team presented material on the unmanned version of the Swift, as modified to allow autonomous flight. Three industrious and inventive souls, Corey Ipollito, Paul Espinosa, and Al Weston, presented their work on the Swift Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which they are undertaking with a small team of experts as a mostly volunteer effort at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. Ilan Kroo’s famous design has had many variants, including several others electrically powered, but none quite as sophisticated, and none with the range of missions envisioned for the craft by this trio. The airplane, test flown in December 2009 by Brian Porter for MLB, carried its human payload for …
A Swiss Swift
Editor’s note: Livio Mengotti sent this comment regarding Dr. Steve Morris’s Swift’s first flights in California, under the pilotage of Brian Porter. (See “A Manned Swift Takes Flight,” March 1, 2010.) The videos are self-explanatory and filled with technical detail. Based on the videos, Switzerland is filled with open fields and glorious vistas awaiting aerial exploitation. Compare Livio’s undercarriage and pilot accommodations with those of Morris’s craft and the pod on Manfred Ruhmer’s Swift conversion. Note, also, that the motor is mounted on the front of the wing, instead of behind it, as on the other two examples. Congratulations for your performance! I built an electric Swift too. I made two flights on April 2010. I can mount and remove the motor and the rechargeable battery with 5 bolts. So I can flight the Swift also without engine as a hang glider. All the best for the further development of your Swift Livio Mengotti