Farms: Maiden Flight of the Rutgers University Autonomous Aircraft Team's Icarus - 25 May 2009

After many months of work, the Icarus made its maiden flight on 25 May 2009. The aircraft was built for entry into the 2009 AUVSI UAS Competition. The flight was made at Heavenly Farms Park in East Brunswick, NJ. The Rutgers University team was assisted by members of the Tri-County R/C Club (http://www.tricountyrc.com/) in constructing and test flying the aircraft. Special thanks to wing-builder extraordinaire Larry Kosinar and test pilot Alex Szemere. Unfortunately, during its second flight just an hour later, the wing root suffered a catastrophic failure at over 200ft altitude, and the aircraft was destroyed. ( cf. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Pieter_Bruegel_d._Ä._032.jpg )