A storage system for a flying object is equipped with a landing portion having a landing surface on which the flying object can land, and a storage main body for storing the flying object that has landed on the landing surface. The storage main body includes opening and closing portions that cover the landing surface. The storage system is further equipped with retaining mechanisms adapted to retain the flying object in a state of having landed on the landing surface from a direction perpendicular to the landing surface.

A transportation system and method serve passenger-conveying VTOL air vehicles (AVs) at a vertiport. The vertiport has a flight deck including at least one landing pad, a passenger terminal, and a dynamic partition arrangement that defines a capsule for receiving one of the AVs at a time. The dynamic partition arrangement assumes a first open state in which it is open to the flight deck and closed to the passenger terminal and a second open state in which it is closed to the flight deck and open to the passenger terminal. A robotic system includes a handling robot that automatically approaches and docks with the AV after landing, and conveys the AV between the landing pad and the capsule via an opening provided by the first open state of the dynamic partition.

An autonomous vehicle includes a chassis for housing an aircraft ground contacting structure (GCS) and one or more GCS coupling and lifting mechanisms, GCS securing mechanisms, drivetrain, batteries and a sensor stack for performing autonomous navigation. Further, the vehicle incorporates multiple sensors, such as high-resolution machine vision cameras, GPS modules, Lidars, ultrasonic range sensors, and radars. The sensors deliver spatial perception capabilities to the vehicle and feed relevant data to onboard computing units to achieve location-based navigation, precision alignment with aircraft, obstacle detection and collision avoidance capabilities. A series of batteries deliver power to all components, including but not limited to, motors, electromechanical units, onboard computers, sensors and any other component requiring electrical input. External ports allow the vehicle to recharge batteries after each utilization cycle without replacement. The vehicle is capable of recognizing its power state and can autonomously navigate to a base station and dock itself for charging.

An aircraft tow vehicle and methods of towing an aircraft are disclosed. An aircraft tow vehicle comprises an aircraft structural interface configured to couple to a wheel assembly of a main landing gear of an aircraft; and an aircraft towing propulsive force system configured to propel the aircraft forward when the aircraft structural interface is coupled to the wheel assembly.

An integrated pushback guidance system and method is provided for guiding pushback travel of electric taxi system-driven aircraft. The pushback guidance system may be integrated with existing ramp monitoring systems to monitor reverse pushback travel of pilot-controlled electric taxi system-driven aircraft along an optimum pushback path from a stand to a pushback end location. Visual signals relating to pushback travel safety as the pilot drives the aircraft along the pushback path are generated in real time by the system and transmitted to a range of display devices viewable by the aircraft pilot and airport personnel responsible for guiding aircraft pushback. The pilot may be guided by visual signals on only display devices or with guidance from airport personnel also viewing the visual signals on display devices to drive the aircraft safely in reverse with the electric taxi system along the pushback path to the pushback end location.

Systems and methods for transferring aircraft within a landing area of an aerial transport are provided. A system includes a plurality of robotic devices configured to move aircraft within the landing area. The system obtains facility data to dynamically determine accessible and prohibited areas of the landing area. The system determines a robotic device to transfer an aircraft based on map data representing the prohibited/accessible areas of the landing area and robotic data representing attributes of each robotic device. The system determines a number of routes for the selected robotic device to transfer the aircraft within the landing area while avoiding prohibited areas of the landing area. The system generates command instructions for the selected robotic device and provides the command instructions to the selected robotic device to travel in accordance with the number of routes.

A transportation system and method serve passenger-conveying VTOL air vehicles (AVs) at a vertiport. The vertiport has a flight deck including at least one landing pad, a passenger terminal, and a dynamic partition arrangement that defines a capsule for receiving one of the AVs at a time. The dynamic partition arrangement assumes a first open state in which it is open to the flight deck and closed to the passenger terminal and a second open state in which it is closed to the flight deck and open to the passenger terminal. A robotic system includes a handling robot that automatically approaches and docks with the AV after landing, and conveys the AV between the landing pad and the capsule via an opening provided by the first open state of the dynamic partition.

An exemplary airport tug is configured to navigate an airport facility autonomously. The exemplary airport tug may comprise a coupling portion configured to engage with a receiving portion of an aircraft, one or more sensors configured to collect sensor data descriptive of environmental conditions in a vicinity of the airport tug, a memory storing instructions, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to perform a process comprising: monitoring, based on the sensor data, the environmental conditions in the vicinity of the airport tug; and directing, based on the monitoring of the environmental conditions and while the coupling portion is engaged to the receiving portion, autonomous movement of the airport tug to transport the aircraft from a starting position to a designated delivery position for the aircraft at the airport facility.

A helicopter tug apparatus for loading, transporting, and unloading a helicopter landing skid includes a plurality of landing skid loading units. The loading units are arranged to support the landing skid, and each of the loading units includes a skid cradle with a plurality of tug rollers configured to engage the landing skid. The loading units each include a drive track, and at least one motor for operating the skid cradle and the drive track. The rollers are reverse synchronized with the drive track, such that when the drive track moves the loading unit under the landing skid, the tug rollers turn in reverse to avoid placing lateral force on the landing skid.

A lifting and/or transporting arrangement includes a remote-controllable lifting and/or transporting device, such as an aircraft pusher; a remote-control transmitter for controlling a lifting and/or transporting movement of the lifting and/or transporting device; and a safety apparatus on which data for defining a horizontally extending virtual enablement area are stored and which has a sensor system for determining a position of the remote-control sensor. A control process of the remote-control transmitter can be enabled or blocked by the safety apparatus on the basis of a currently detected position of the remote-control transmitter with respect to the enablement area. The enablement area has a limited vertical extent in a vertical direction, and the sensor system of the safety apparatus has height determination device for determining a height of the remote-control transmitter. The control process can be enabled or blocked on the basis of a currently detected height of the remote-control transmitter with respect to the vertical extent of the enablement area.