AIRTRAILER
CARGO SYSTEM

Remote delivery •  new markets •  Disaster response

Range and endurance of fixed wing aircraft  / Near helicopter landing precision / Reduce your operating cost per ton delivered by 50%+ / Increase the useful load of your aircraft by 2x to 3x / Cargo Areas from 243 cubic ft. to 1025 cubic ft. 

Meet our game changer...the AirTrailer

WHAT IS AN AIRTRAILER? It's a mechanically simple and cost-effective solution for a multitude of cargo needs in the form of a gyroplane glider trailer that is hitched to and towed by an aircraft or drone. While the AirTrailer is towed by a manned aircraft, it is actually flown by a state-of-the-art "Flight Controller", from takeoff to landing.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? We're setting a new standard for remote air cargo. Here's how:

• Low cost of ownership: 1/25 of the cost of a comparable sized aircraft

• Mechanically simple: no engine, no transmission, no drive train, and no tail rotor

• Performance: all weather operations, cruise speeds from 30-110 knots, very short takeoff with near helicopter precision vertical landing

• Cargo load capacity: from 500 lb. to 10 tons (20,000 lb.) delivered using a light single engine turboprop aircraft, saving up to 67% per ton delivered

• Global opportunity: due to accessibility, only 30% of the world is serviced by regular air cargo delivery service; we can take care of the other 70% as well

HOW THE AIRTRAILER WORKS...

The AirTrailer is a Gyroplane glider, an unpowered rotor wing aircraft towed by a manned aircraft or Unmanned Aircraft (Drone), autonomously controlled by a state of the art flight control system.

Landing: the AirTrailer is released in flight by the towing aircraft, at or near 300 feet Above Ground Level—it senses the ground through dust, snow, and fog by radar and/or laser altimeter—decelerates and lands gently with near zero roll!

Gyroplanes are essentially mechanical parachutes or horizontal windmills that provide substantial lift from incoming air. Unlike helicopters, gyrocopter gliders are far simpler, have no transmission, engines or counter torque tail rotors. Using small auxiliary motors gyrocopters can store kinetic energy to jump vertically into the air or with only a short takeoff run. At landing they flare like a parachute to a near zero ground roll landing closely mimicking the footprint of a helicopter in all but hover.

Cargo AirTrailer

Heliplane, LLC has developed two products utilizing the combination of gyroplane technology and Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) software. They are:

• AirTrailer™ - with Useful Loads of 1/2 ton thru 10 tons
• Custom Cargo Lift Designs 
• UAS-MultiUse AirTrailer
• ER-AirTrailer; Extended Range Fuel system 1 to 100 gallon
• EER-AirTrailer: 15 to 100 lb battery pack.

• UAS Cargo System - deliver 10 to 500 lb of Cargo

• UAS Auxiliary Sensor Platform - 10 to 500 lb with onboard power generation.

* While they have distinctly different missions they all utilize the same Flight Control system technology. 

AirTrailer™ operation

Engineered to be towed behind a fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft, the AirTrailer increases the payload capacity of the towing aircraft up to 3x. It is desined to be released in flight to land at the destination site. The software lands the AirTrailer with almost zero rollout. If possible, the towing aircraft will then land. The AirTrailer can be reattached for the return trip. If the aircraft cannot land, the AirTrailer can be disassembled and shipped back separately. It is also conceivable for the AirTrailer to get “hooked” by a passing aircraft and launched into flight.

Unmanned aircraft (UAS) family

UAS-AirTrailer models are designed to increase the Useful Load whether it is Cargo, Sensor group or Extended Range Fuel System. Cargo from 20–500 lbs, Extended Range fuel from 1–100 gallons.  Sensor platform for sensors weigh 10–500 lbs with onboard power generation capabilities. 

The UAS-AirTrailer is not released until the UAS has returned to its base of operations. It is released over the landing zone and the UAS then lands separately.

UAS-MultiUse AirTrailers:

• ER-AirTrailer; Extended Range Fuel system 1 to 100 gallon
• EER-AirTrailer: 15 to 100 lb battery pack.

• UAS Cargo System - deliver 10 to 500 lb of Cargo

• UAS Auxiliary Sensor Platform - 10 to 500 lb with onboard power generation.

While distinctly different missions they all utilize the same guidance system technology.

Cargo delivery

IATA and ICAO report for 2013: commercial air cargo revenue was $140 billion on 49.6 million tons of cargo with a value of $6.4 trillion dollars. They expect the market to double in size by 2030.

Remote cargo delivery is difficult, expensive and not regularly scheduled.

AirTrailer will change the dynamic.

Using low cost turboprop aircraft to tow up to 10 tons of cargo, delivered with near helicopter precision. Increasing an aircrafts lift (useful load) capability by 2x to 3x

Towed behind a manned aircraft,-- it follows and mimics the movements of the towing aircraft throughout the duration of the flight to the point of release. to a precision landing. The tow aircraft does not land with the AirTrailer attached.

The AirTrailer is a true VTOL with takeoff and landing distances as short as 100 feet with near helicopter precision.

Many regions of the world have limited or no air cargo.

THE MARKET

Asian Pacific Basin
Population: >3.8 billion
Area: 35,000,000 sq mi
40 Countries
Islands: >25,000

Central & South America
Population: 475 million
Area: 18,347,966 sq mi
19 Countries                                          

disaster relief

When minutes count...

AirTrailers can be prepositioned in disaster prone areas no need to wait for helicopters to be brought in.

How do you respond when the roads, bridges, airfields, and ports are damaged or destroyed?

• AirTrailer is towed by fixed wing aircraft. Loaded AirTrailers can be flown in and delivered from hundreds of miles away.

Vertical lift is critical to deliver relief and sustainment supplies to a disaster area. It takes days or weeks for enough helicopters to arrive in the disaster affected region to be effective. 

• AirTrailer's can be maintained in a "Ready to Go" condition in regional relief staging areas.

  Control and security of the relief supplies improves the distribution process.

• AirTrailer flown straight from Relief Supplies Staging areas outside of the affected disaster area, this relieves pressure on the affected  infrastructure.

 Disaster relief agencies spend over $20 Billion per year responding to natural disasters.

AirTrailer: accelerates the response time to any disaster and saves operational money at the same time.

AirTrailer's, towed by fixed wing aircraft (agricultural aircraft are a perfect tow vehicle), operating at a fraction of the cost of a helicopter while providing near helicopter precision delivery of supplies.

Require almost no maintenance to maintain airworthiness. No engine, no transmission, no drivetrain.

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