The Piasecki Aircraft Corporation (PiAC) is a

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

, principally advanced

rotorcraft A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internat ...

. It was founded by American vertical flight pioneer

Frank Piasecki Frank Nicolas Piasecki ( ; ; October 24, 1919 – February 11, 2008) was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using ...

to develop compound helicopters and other advanced rotorcraft after he was ousted from the leadership of his first company,

Piasecki Helicopter Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted from the company in 1956 and starte ...

.Trimble 1982, pp. 257–258.

History

The company's origins dated back to 1936 with the formation of the P-V Engineering Forum in 1940 and it was renamed the

Piasecki Helicopter Corporation Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted from the company in 1956 and starte ...

in 1946. After a falling out with other owners, Frank Piasecki and some of his design team left to form Piasecki Aircraft Corporation in 1955. The Piasecki Aircraft Corporation is based in Essington, Pennsylvania and is run by Frank Piasecki's sons; Frederick Weyerhaeuser Piasecki is chairman and John Weyerhaeuser Piasecki is president and CEO. In 2005, the company was selected by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

as the prime contractor for two

Future Combat Systems Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unpr ...

(FCS)

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...

(UAV) systems The FCS Class III UAV system contract was awarded to the company in late 2006 following a competitive downselect of four competing technologies. As part of that effort, the company flew the world's first autonomous

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...

. The company was the successful bidder when the US Navy’s

Naval Air Systems Command The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...

awarded a demonstration contract to serve as a testbed to validate the "Vectored Thrust Ducted Propeller" system."Piasecki X-49 SpeedHawk (United States)"
''Jane's Helicopter Markets and Systems''. Jane's Information Group, 9 May 2008. Piasecki developed and flight-tested the X-49 experimental compound helicopter, with its first flight in 2007, later completing all Phase 1 requirements. Piasecki bid on the

Future Vertical Lift Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is a plan to develop a family of military helicopters for the United States Armed Forces. Five different sizes of aircraft are to be developed, sharing common hardware such as sensors, avionics, engines, and counterm ...

program, but was not chosen when that project moved into its Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) phase in 2013. In December 2018, Piasecki announced Air Scout unmanned air system (UAS), it is designed to meet emerging cargo logistics requirements consistent with UAS Classification Group 3. Air Scout is sized at 300lbs, with payload potential of 50-150 lbs. In 2021, the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center adopted Piasecki's Mobile Multiple Mission Module (M4) as their research asset. M4 was designed to accommodate cargo, patients, troops or a combination of any of these with its rapidly reconfigurable interior. It was planned to be flown using the Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (ARES) in 2023. Piasecki is working for the PA-890, an electric powered helicopter with targets for lower operating cost, reduced noise, and zero direct emissions. The airport is featured in the March/April 2021 ''Vertiflite'' magazine.

Products

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Trimble, William F. ''High Frontier: A History of Aeronautics in Pennsylvania''. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982. .

External links

Piasecki Aircraft Corporation

World's First Autonomous Autogyro

FCS Entries
{{Piasecki/Vertol aircraft Helicopter manufacturers of the United States