A2Z Drone Delivery, Inc, developer of commercial drone delivery solutions, has released its new flagship delivery drone, the RDSX Pelican. The new Pelican leverages a hybrid VTOL airframe with no control surfaces to combine the reliability and flight stability of a multirotor platform, with the extended range of a fixed-wing craft.

With no ailerons, elevator or rudder, the Pelican’s durable-yet-simple design eliminates common points of failure and exponentially extends operational time between maintenance overhauls. Designed to meet the 55-pound takeoff weight limitation for FAA Part 107 compliance, the Pelican can carry payloads of 5 kilos on missions up to 40 kilometers roundtrip. Available in multiple model variations, the Pelican can be optimized for extended range operations or to deliver payloads from altitude with the company’s RDS2 drone delivery winch. A2Z Drone Delivery will first display the new RDSX Pelican at the upcoming AUVSI XPONENTIAL (May 9-11 in Denver, CO).

Available in multiple configurations, the RDSX Pelican can be customized for an array of missions. Configured with the A2Z Drone Delivery drone winch, the Pelican enables deliveries from altitude where spinning propellers are kept far from people and property, mitigating consumer privacy concerns of low-flying drones while abating intrusive rotor noise. Alternatively, for missions in which the drone is able to safely land at its destination, a simple servo-release mechanism can release payloads and expand the Pelican’s payload capacity. Beyond logistics use cases like residential deliveries, the Pelican can be fully customized to suit unique mission criteria such as aerial mapping, drone inspection, forestry services, search and rescue operations, water sample collection, offshore deliveries, mining, etc.

The Pelican’s hybrid fixed-wing/multirotor airframe eliminates the traditional control surfaces seen on most winged aircraft. With no servos to replace and minimal moving parts, the Pelican’s simple-yet-robust design extends the time between recommended maintenance overhauls to reduce downtime and cost. To maximize scalability of those drone delivery ecosystems, the RDSX Pelican was also designed to minimize operational costs for commercial drone delivery fleets. Boasting an attractive 13 cents/kg/km operating cost, the RDSX Pelican delivers the efficiency, payload capacity and reach needed to scale a commercial drone delivery operation.

“Here at A2Z Drone Delivery, our development is not just about maximizing performance, it’s about creating usable tools designed to get work done,” said Aaron Zhang, Founder and CEO of A2Z Drone Delivery, Inc. “A full-service drone delivery ecosystem will need a fleet of short, medium and long-range UAV platforms capable of depositing payloads in an array of settings. The new RDSX Pelican is the highly efficient, long range delivery platform in that last-mile fleet. It is thoughtfully designed to minimize potential points of failure, reducing the overall cost-per-kilometer of logistics operations, all while providing maximum payload flexibility.”

Source: Press Release