ARAS test aircraft successfully completes maiden flight

[Picture: Johannes Schneider] - Students of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Stuttgart have developed and built the unmanned testing platform Aircraft for Research and Applied Science (ARAS). In the process, they designed the components for it to be able to withstand high loads. After the mechanical and electronic integration was finished, the "UAStudents Gruppe" (a compound made up of Unmanned Aerial System, another word for drone, and students) carried out extensive ground testing before the aircraft successfully took off for the first time in October. Universal testing platform for flight control system, autopilot or drive train. The aircraft should function as a universal testing platform and should be versatile. It has a maximum take-off weight of 18 kilograms and a wingspan of 4.25 meters. The students constructed ARAS in such a way that a very rigid continuous carrier plate in the fuselage forms its base.