Flight Trials at Pune, 28 - 30 December 2002
During the conceptual design phase of PADD, an unmanned scaled down prototype of the PaxCargo airship, named as Mini airship was developed by PADD project team. The aim of design and fabrication of this prototype was to explore the possible use of remotely controlled airship as an ideal mean for aerial surveillance. Mini airship was demonstrated successfully during the 90th Indian Science Congress held in January 2003 which was witnessed by the respected president Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, former ISRO chairman, Dr. K. Kasturirangan and many respected officers from Indian army, and citizens.
Remotely controlled with a Four
Channel receiver operated by a FM Transmitter
Length 6.7 m (22 ft) with fineness
ratio 4
Envelope volume 8.6 m3
Payload capacity 3 kg
Powered by 7.5 cc IC engine which
produces 1.65 HP
Max. speed achieved 36 kmph at 200 ft.
Endurance 15 minutes with 250 ml fuel
Fitted with onboard Video Downlink
system to transmit real time video to ground station
So far, Mini airship has been
test flown at Pune Gliding Centre (Dec. 2002), Bangalore University Campus (Jan
2003) and recently at Park College of Engineering, Coimbatore (Sept. 2004)
With a view to get a first hand exposure to the issues related to designing and operating airships, a team of project engineers designed, fabricated and flight tested a remotely controlled airship later called as Micro airship.
This activity was seamlessly integrated with the Aircraft Design Laboratory course for the undergraduate students of the Aerospace Engineering Department, enabling them to participate in a live aircraft design project from the conceptualization to realization.
Remotely controlled with a Four
Channel receiver operated by a FM Transmitter
Length 5 m (16.4 ft) with fineness
ratio of 3.05
Envelope volume of 6.8 m3
Payload capacity of ~ 1 kg
Powered by one 2.5 cc IC engine which
produces 0.40 HP
Max. speed achieved 25 kmph at 200 ft.
Endurance 15 minutes with
200 ml fuel