13:59 GMT, June 3, 2009 Vienna | The Camcopter S-100 will be the first-ever Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to fly as part of the official flight displays at this year’s 100 year anniversary of “Salon du Le Bourget” from June 15 to 19. June. Schiebel, of Austria, developer and manufacturer of the CAMCOPTER S-100, is honoured to be making history with its acclaimed VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) UAV.

Approval for the history-making flights was granted on the basis of the S-100’s existing EASA certification and a series of test flights conducted in April at the Flight Test Centre (CEV) in Istres, France. Schiebel’s Air Services Team comprehensively demonstrated the CAMCOPTER® S-100’s planned flight manoeuvres and emergency procedures, proving its ability to fly safely at the Paris Air Show. The CEV validated the system’s performance and both the Committee of Organization of the Paris Air Show and the Civil Aviation Authority of France, “DGAC” (Direction Générale d’Aviation Civile), observed and assisted with the tests. Based on their expertise and responsibility in this area, the DGAC issued the final flight permission for the S-100 UAS to perform at the Paris Air Show.

The fully autonomous CAMCOPTER® S-100 is an extremely versatile VTOL UAS, with a maximum takeoff weight of 200 kg and an endurance of over 6 hours, and designed as closely as possible to relevant manned aircraft standards. It will demonstrate its unrivalled capabilities during the daily flight displays within visual range of the audience.

During the flights, realtime high resolution daylight and infrared video will be fed to the Paris Air Show’s own TV station and displayed on large screens for the audience. The video images will be provided by the French-made Thales Agile II gimbaled EO/IR camera system, mounted in the S-100’s main payload bay.

One hundred years after a visionary group of French inventors and aircraft builders staged the first “airborne locomotion exhibition” at the Grand Palais in Paris, Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER® S-100 will be adding yet another milestone to aviation’s storied history.
Daily flight displays: from Monday, June 15, to Friday, June 19 at 1:30 pm.

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About CAMCOPTER S-100:

Schiebel’s latest CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAV System has been developed to carry various sensors for both military and civilian applications. The Aerial Vehicle is launched automatically via Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL), eliminating the need for a prepared area or additional launch and recovery equipment. It navigates via pre-programmed GPS waypoints, or can be operated manually through a simple, yet highly stable, flight control system. The CAMCOPTER® S-100, like its predecessor, is capable of landing on helicopter deck-equipped ships without the use of additional landing equipment. Its AV fuselage is a carbon fibre monocoque providing maximum capacity for a wide range of payload/endurance combinations. In a standard configuration, the AV is capable of carrying a 55 lbs payload for up to 6 hours.

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