Skyryse has achieved what it says is the first-ever fully automated autorotation landings with its modified Robinson R66 helicopter. Announcing the breakthrough this week, even though the flight itself happened back in July, the company said it expects to roll out the first production example of the rotorcraft in the first quarter of 2024.

The R66 testbed was equipped with Skyryse’s highly automated flight control system, called FlightOS, which the company says will reduce pilot workload in a variety of aircraft, including helicopters, airplanes, and eVTOL air taxis. The California-based company says it has completed dozens of automated autorotation landings at its flight test facility near Los Angeles since the first successful test on July 22, when Guinness World Records was in attendance to certify the record for the first automated autorotation landing by rotorcraft. 

An autorotation landing is a somewhat complicated procedure that helicopter pilots must learn in order to safely descend in the event of an engine failure. Pilots have only about two seconds to complete the emergency procedure in order to successfully initiate autorotation, which is a state of flight in which air flowing up through the rotor allows it to continue spinning while the engine is disengaged. The FAA requires all single-engine helicopters to have this capability to obtain type certification. 

Skyryse’s FlightOS system can detect an engine failure and automatically set the autorotation procedure into motion, and the pilot only needs to press one button. This is much faster and easier than a manual autorotation, which is a four-step process involving a series of multiple control movements that have been too complex to automate with existing autopilot systems. FlightOS automatically “lowers the pitch, aligns the nose, manages aircraft stability, completes the flare, and lands gracefully at the desired landing location,” according to Skyryse. 

“Every year, more than 400 people lose their lives in general aviation accidents just in the U.S. alone,” said Skyryse founder and CEO Mark Groden. “Fully automated autorotation is just one example of how our technology will bring a commercial grade of safety and beyond to general aviation.”

The fully automated autorotation procedure is one of several novel safety features that Skyryse says will come standard in all rotorcraft equipped with FlightOS. Its first product will be a FlightOS-equipped version of the R66 that will be capable of operating under instrument flight rules (IFR). The company aims to offer FlightOS as a retrofit to multiple in-service aircraft and also as standard or optional equipment on new aircraft. 

In February, the FAA confirmed that FlightOS meets all of the agency’s means-of-compliance requirements, clearing the way for the company to complete applications for the STCs it will need to begin retrofitting aircraft with the new flight control system, starting with the R66.