January - December, 2011

October 2011

• Carter PAV Continues Phase II Flight-testing
  
  Wings and a new landing gear have been added to the PAV as it continues in Phase II Flight-testing. Initial taxi tests and short hops down the runway have progressed into brief flight patterns over the test airport at altitudes up to 1,000 feet. Tests have accomplished some reduction of rotor RPM in flight and will continue to test the systems at higher speeds.

  View of the New Wing View of the New Wing View of the New Wing View of the New Wing

August 2011

• Carter PAV Enters Phase II Flight-testing
  
  The Carter PAV has headed to the test airport to begin Phase II flight testing. Initial flight-tests under Phase I were completed in January of this year. Under Phase I new flight control systems were tested along with the PAV's ability to perform jump take-offs and zero-roll landings. These tests were flown in an autogyro configuration without the fixed-wing extensions. Phase II tests will expand the flight envelope by adding the wing extensions which span 45 feet. Tests will incrementally increase flight speeds by transferring the lift from the rotor to the wings. Phase II tests are expected to take several weeks to complete.

2011-08-23

• Jeff Lewis promoted to Engineering Manager:
  
  Carter is pleased to announce that Jeff Lewis has taken over responsibilities as Carter's new Engineering Manager. Jeff began his career with Carter in 2002 and has been one of our lead engineers in refining our SR/C technology. He has had critical responsibility in our development work, particularly in designing Carter's unique rotor systems. (NOTE:) Jeff's added engineering responsibilities did not allow him to devote the necessary time to our web site, therefore we are pleased to welcome a new webmaster.
  
  
• Carter welcomes Dave Keim as Webmaster:
  
  Carter has hired Dave Keim as our new Webmaster. Dave is more widely known for his announcing work at AirVenture and Sun N Fun, but his background in computer systems and consumer aviation based websites will help greatly with Carter's transition from a R&D focused company to a position for commercial release of our technology.

June 2011:

• Carter Moves to New Facility
  
  Since 1994 Carter has been housed in two small industrial buildings that accommodated our machine and composite shops and a small fabrication area. Both buildings encompassed less than 3000 square feet of work area and for most of the last 15 years the administration and engineering offices were housed in a mobile office totaling 600 sq. ft. In June, Carter moved to a new 20,000 sq. ft. facility here in Wichita Falls. The new facility provides 16,000 sq. ft. of shop space and 4,000 sq. ft. of engineering and office space. Visit our Press Release and Media page to read the full release:
     • 2011-01-28 - Carter PAV Completes Phase I Flight-testing
     • 2011-01-17 - Carter PAV Completes 1st Milestone Flight
   
• We held a public demonstration flight on January 25th. Local media were in attendance. Follow the links below to see their covereage.
     • Times Record News
     • KFDX Channel 3 News, Story 1
     • KFDX Channel 3 News, Story 2
  
  

  View from the PAV Tail Cam PAV Landing PAV Returning to Hangar

2011-01-28

• We've completed Phase I of the PAV flight test program. While the PAV only logged a few hours of flight time during Phase I, it completed multiple take-offs and landings, including 8 jump take-offs. Highlights of the testing included the first traffic pattern on December 2, 2010, the first 30+ minute flight on January 5, 2011 and the first jump take-off on January 18, 2011. Much more extensive flight-testing will take place during Phase II, after we've installed the 45-foot wing section. For more info, along with video and high res photos, read our press releases on the flight testing:
     • 2011-01-28 - Carter PAV Completes Phase I Flight-testing
     • 2011-01-17 - Carter PAV Completes 1st Milestone Flight
   
• We held a public demonstration flight on January 25th. Local media were in attendance. Follow the links below to see their covereage.
     • Times Record News
     • KFDX Channel 3 News, Story 1
     • KFDX Channel 3 News, Story 2
  
  

  View from the PAV Tail Cam PAV Landing PAV Returning to Hangar