, ROME: The Sky-X, technological demonstrator for an unmanned vehicle designed and developed by Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica company, has made its first flight in a full automatic mode (ATOL, Automatic Take Off and Landing), from the Vidsel Base, near the Arctic Circle.
The aircraft has taken off from the Swedish Base for its 15th flight with good weather conditions, and has followed the route defined in the flight pattern and has landed after a half-hour with extreme precision, despite a strong wind, all this without the direct guide from the ground station.
The Sky-X has then made a second ATOL flight with the purpose of testing the performance of all the autopilot systems, including the control of the autothrottle.
In the end, in a third ATOL flight, the Sky-X carried out a flight path that included high-load turns and an approach for a go-around with a low-altitude fly-by on the runway and a successful perfect landing.
The next flight activities for the Sky-X are scheduled for end 2006 at Amendola Base, in Italy.
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