ARIADNA Consortium Successfully Completes First Simultaneous Flight of a Civil Drone and Manned Aircraft
Photo: Indra Company
The European ARIADNA consortium, led by the company Indra with participants CRIDA, ENAIRE and Fada-Catec, has completed simultaneous flight tests in a conventional airport of an unmanned aircraft in the presence of a manned aircraft.
This test is one of the first instances in Europe of a drone operating in the area of conventional air traffic.
The flight program was held at the ATLAS Experimental Flight Center, located in Villacarrillo, Spain. This center has the ability to segregate for such operations.
The exercises were carried out in two distinct phases. In the first, a drone called Viewer flew, executing various maneuvers on the airfield while the Indra MRI P2006T manned aircraft operated simultaneously.
A controller supervised the operation, giving separation instructions to the aircraft. The drone’s remote pilot, which monitors the aircraft from the ground at all times, had the position data of both aircraft provided by an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast receptor, thus improving situational awareness of traffic in the area.
An additional drone was used in the second phase of flights — an unmanned helicopter called Logo — which validated the feasibility of instrumental approach and landing procedures with vertical guidance based on satellite navigation.
