Some radio controlled vehicle fanatics feel the old adage "the bigger, the better" rings true in terms of their favorite hobby, but those fans of supersizing probably didn’t have a vehicle as large as a 5.2 ton Blackhawk helicopter in mind!
The guys in this photo aren’t your average R/C enthusiasts, they’re engineers from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and they get to do totally boring stuff for a living, like playing with Blackhawk helicopters via remote control.
Unfortunately, these guys aren’t making the newest consumer R/C product, they’re working on a serious project with real military applications:
In cooperation with the U.S. Army, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has successfully demonstrated optionally piloted flight of a Black Hawk helicopter, a significant step toward providing autonomous cargo delivery functionality to the U.S. Army.
According to Mark Miller, Sikorsky Vice President of Research & Engineering "the autonomous Black Hawk helicopter provides the commander with the flexibility to determine crewed or un-crewed operations, increasing sorties while maintaining crew rest requirements. This allows the crew to focus on the more 'sensitive' operations, and leaves the critical resupply missions for autonomous operations without increasing fleet size or mix."
-Via Sploid