Dornier Mini-Telecopter

The Dornier Mini-Telecopter II, abbreviated MTC II, was an unmanned coaxial-rotor helicopter from Dornier that flew in 1981 under remote control through a cable and was later to be flown free by radio. It was designed as a sensor carrier for army and navy tasks and followed a smaller test device, the MTC I, whose trials began in mid 1970. Dornier ran the programme from 1975 to 1995 on its own funds. The airframe came from Alfred Vogt, who had led the Sky-Trac and Skyrider helicopter work at Wagner, while Dornier developed and fitted the stabilisation and control. The counter-rotating coaxial rotor had 2 times 3 blades of 3.2 metres diameter, and the open fuselage carried a 40 horsepower Hirth two-stroke engine, the tank and the control systems, on four stilt legs. At 190 kilograms take-off mass and 60 kilograms payload it reached two hours endurance and 1,000 metres height. Free radio flights never happened because Dornier was merged into DASA, whose helicopter interests clashed with Vogt, and the programme ended in 1995.