The S-64 Erickson Air Crane heliᴄᴏᴘter is upgraded to carry bulk cargo and cars to American military personnel in the field without a pilot in the cockpit. A brand-new robotic flight control brain would be included.

The business has spent the last year dismantling tail number N179AC, widely known as “Elvis,” down to its metal airframe in order to get it ready for being rebuilt as the first S-64F+. Elvis, so named for the shake, rattle, and roll of its first duty carrying logs, rose to fame for ғɪɢʜᴛing fires in Aᴜsᴛʀᴀʟɪᴀ, where it assisted in saving the lives of 14 firemen in 2001. The S-64’s capacity to ғɪɢʜᴛ flames at night and in challenging terrain with heavier loads was increased, which improved efficiency but also markedly raised the ʀɪsᴋ to pilots and crew.

Engineers at Erickson were seeking safer ways to pilot in ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜs conditions when they came across Sikorsky’s Matrix retrofit autonomy package. A cooperative effort between the U.S. military and industry is testing the system on an Army UH-60 Black Hawk in an effort to lessen the cognitive load on pilots.

For its S-76B-based Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft (SARA), a modified version of the S-76B, Sikorsky has been developing Matrix technology since 2013. The device can be put onto any aircraft to allow for flight with two, one, or no pilots.

Let’s watch Giant Erickson Air Crane Start up & Take Off in the video below:

Source: m171562

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