The Black Swan: The Aircraft with No Pilots on Board

Svilen Rangelov, the co-founder of Dronamics, has promised that his 8-year-long beard will be removed once the Black Swan, an aircraft with no pilots on board, has flown. 

His brother Konstantin also promised to shave his beard only after the first flight of the Black Swan which they have been building in their native Bulgaria.

In this Slogging thread, our community discussed Black Swan, an aircraft with no pilots on board.

This Slogging thread by Valentine Enedah, Sara Pinto, Marco Sullivan and Mónica Freitas occurred in slogging's official #technology channel and has been edited for readability.

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:08 AM

The Black Swan: The Aircraft with No Pilots on Board
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63595481

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:37 AM

Svilen Rangelov:

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:49 AM

At the time Dronamics was established, big tech giants like Amazon were experimenting with drone deliveries to domestic addresses. But Mr Rangelov never believed in the concept of personal goods delivered by drone. The practical difficulties of flying a drone right up to someone's front door were obvious.

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:50 AM

Black Swan looks very much like a conventional light aircraft without a pilot's cabin. It combines cell phone economics in terms of cheap electronics, with the ability to land on short runways.

There are 3,000 airstrips across Europe, that's a lot of locations. Black Swan embodies a combination of lightweight composite materials and a standard piston engine that sips petrol while the drone cruises on long and fuel-efficient wings.

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:52 AM

German logistics giant Hellmann is poised to begin using Black Swan. Jan Kleine-Lasthues is in charge of this initiative and he has spent a long career in airfreight.

Valentine EnedahDec 29, 2022, 10:53 AM

Black Swan will be more frequent than ferries and can be used to break down deliveries into several packages. This essentially increases the frequency of deliveries.
Also, Dronamics hopes to get a full-scale prototype of the Black Swan drone airborne in early 2023.
What do you think?


Sara PintoDec 30, 2022, 3:43 PM

Valentine Enedah, so, will Black Swan deliver goods directly to people? Seems like it would be an upgrade to the usual drone since it has such a high reach!

Valentine EnedahDec 31, 2022, 1:40 PM

Sara Pinto Yes, It will deliver to people directly as well as large businesses.
Maybe the drones for people would be a little smaller.

Marco SullivanDec 31, 2022, 2:59 PM

Valentine Enedah This would be very useful for delivery to near by states or areas. I would love to gaze at more possibilities for this drone.

Valentine EnedahDec 31, 2022, 3:32 PM

Marco Sullivan Yes!
This might be a very fast and efficient form of delivery in the long run!

Sara PintoJan 4, 2023, 3:28 PM

You mention that they plan to fly in 2023. Do we know if it is in trials or will it be for real this year? Valentine Enedah

Valentine EnedahJan 4, 2023, 8:47 PM

Sara Pinto There are currently in trials and they plan to launch this year. I hope they are able to deliver to normal users in the long run.

Mónica FreitasJan 5, 2023, 4:30 PM

I suppose this will come with extra operational costs. I suppose either businesses will support these costs, or we will pay extra. But I find this interesting and would love to try it. It'll make shopping more fun

Valentine EnedahJan 6, 2023, 1:25 PM

Mónica Freitas Yeah, companies should be willing to pay for extra costs to make it easier for their users/customers.