Here’s a great new video from PBS News of a Scan Eagle being caught in the wire, a deceptively simple way of recovering a UAS to a moving ship. It really is the benchmark UAS fixed wing system. ScanEagle launches autonomously and uses a patented no-nets recovery solution for recovery. The system recovers with its wing tip on a rope that hangs from a boom. The system design is modular. The result is a reliable, in-the-field adaptable system. Operations and maintenance are simplified, and field upgrade kits rapidly deliver new capabilities to existing operations. Operators command pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions, while a global positioning system and onboard flight computer guide the aircraft.
Bird on a wire: Scan Eagle lands on USS Ponce
I think it worster tehén net. Huhhhh
This is kind of like the “trapeze” system that was used in the 1930s to launch and recover aircraft from zeppelin-type airships.
http://www.airships.net/us-navy-rigid-airships/uss-akron-macon
All that technology, and the plane is still lowered to the deck by a seaman using a rope tackle manually. Still, where you can, KISS.
This looks like the answer for folks, who damage the retractable landing gear on their warbirds, trying to land on grass.