Do you know the lady in the picture on the left? No? But you should! Because Jacqueline Auriol was not only the inspiration for the name of our heavy-cargo drone (right), she was also one of the most impressive female aviators of the 20th century!
Born in 1917, she decided to learn to fly at the age of 30. What followed were various flying licenses for different types of aircraft and activities as an aerobatic pilot and test pilot. Even a serious accident did not stop the Frenchwoman: she continued to fly and broke several speed records.
Most impressively, as the first European woman to break the sound barrier in 1953, she was long regarded as the “fastest woman in the world” and received several awards. She can therefore undoubtedly be admired as a pioneer of the skies.
Our drones are not yet flying at supersonic speeds, but our AURIOL is at least as pioneering as its role model: setting new standards is the goal!
High performance, reliability and the relentless motivation to soar to new heights – we and our AURIOL take our cue from the famous pilot.
Left photo: This photograph is part of the Fonds André Cros, preserved by the city archives of Toulouse and released under CC BY-SA 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) by the deliberation n°27.3 of June 23rd, 2017 of the Town Council of the City of Toulouse. Image was partially cropped.
https://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Auriol-Post_Eng_1.png10801500Maike Niehaushttps://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo_Name_black-1-300x130.pngMaike Niehaus2024-01-25 15:13:432024-01-25 15:17:05Record-breaking and made to fly: Auriol
It is well known that ships are christened before they set sail – but this is still rather unusual for drones.
Nevertheless, one of our Auriols recently had the pleasure of being ceremoniously christened with the name “Nivi” with a champagne shower! “Nivi” comes from Greenlandic and means “little girl”.
The occasion for this was a first successful demonstration in the port of Esbjerg, Denmark, as part of the Vesco project, which is starting up again together with DanPilot.
https://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Getaufte-Auriol-1.png27413024Maike Niehaushttps://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo_Name_black-1-300x130.pngMaike Niehaus2023-12-19 09:31:282023-12-19 09:31:30One of our Auriols is now called “Nivi”
It was exactly one week ago that we had the pleasure of attending the Blazers Bounty.
Our partners The Trailblazers brought all their partners together to celebrate their third birthday – and, fittingly, their newly won title of TOP3 PR agency. To celebrate, but also to think about the future, because Desirable Futures was the motto. And in the end, that was the common ground for everyone: the firm belief that we can contribute to a desirable future. It was a great day at the Pioneer’s Club and the Founders Foundation with exciting insights and conversations. Dear Trailblazers, we congratulate and thank you for the great event and were very happy to be there (even with Auriol!).
We recently sent two brave colleagues on a trip to New Orleans in the USA. The reason for this was the ROSCon and PX4 Developer Summit conferences taking place there. With ROS (Robot Operating System) with software libraries for robot applications and PX4 as software for flight controllers, both topics are highly relevant to us on a daily basis.
This makes it all the more important to stay up to date and maintain contacts with the two respective open source communities. At both events, there were insights into new developments, exciting specialist presentations, plenty of opportunities to exchange experiences and lots of networking opportunities. What we took home with us were new contacts, plenty of food for thought and a good dose of motivation.
And because you don’t come to New Orleans every day, of course, a bit of sightseeing was also a must. These included the Garden District and a swamp boat tour, during which no 3EA employees were harmed by alligators.
https://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Auf-der-ROSCon_blurred-scaled.jpg25601928Maike Niehaushttps://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo_Name_black-1-300x130.pngMaike Niehaus2023-11-16 16:52:562023-11-16 16:52:58New Orleans and back again
Since the beginning of this year, Heiko Schenk is a new face with us and supports us in hardware development and as a test pilot. Working at Third Element Aviation is by no means his first encounter with drones: Heiko Schenk is a former German Drone Racing Champion and has raced all over the world.
Heiko, how did you come to 3EA?
At a party of a former sponsor and current friend, a mutual customer was a guest, who then directly contacted Third Element Aviation when he heard that I was on the lookout. We talked and now I’ve been here since the beginning of January. Before that, I was a trained IT specialist and was a support for ERP systems.
And you have more than a little prior experience with drones, right?
I did drone racing semi-professionally, so I worked part-time, but I also made money racing. That’s when I designed, milled and sold frames for the racing drones myself. I also had the opportunity to develop my own motor with the company T-Motor and there was also a “Heiko Schenk” racing propeller.
How do you even get into doing something like that?
I thought drones were kind of cool right when the topic started. It started with a photo drone, but that was boring after a few times. I quickly developed it a bit more myself. At some point I saw a video of FPV (First Person View) drones racing through the forest. On the same day, a beginner’s set was ordered, tried out and I was immediately hooked. With a FPV headset, the body is fooled and you have the feeling of sitting in the drone. It has something of the “dream of flying”, being free like a bird, being able to observe everything from above.
Since I am a competitive guy, after two weeks of flight training I made the decision that I want to become German Champion in the Drone Racing category. After nine months, I was already flying internationally, flying for teams and, until Corona came along, had been to over 30 countries.
Wow, and then where have you been? What’s the most impressive thing that stuck with you?
There’s so much – I flew over the Great Wall of China, over the Champs-Élysées, which was terribly impressive because there were so many people at the event. There was once a Redbull event on a Formula 1 track in Austria, where you flew through a hoop of fire, and a salt mine in Romania. I have also been to the USA, Brussels, South Korea and many other places. Additionally, I gave drone racing lessons at a Chinese school as part of a project week.
But now your drone racing time is behind you? Do you miss it sometimes?
Because of Corona, there were no more events in the international scene from one day to the next. During this time I dedicated myself more to FreeStyle flying and currently I don’t fly competitively anymore.
Sure, I miss the time somehow. But everything has its place in life and I am happy that I could turn my passion into a profession. They were beautiful but also intense five years from 2016 to 2021.
What do you bring back from that time for your work here?
Understanding drones and how they work, which is just something completely different again than with model planes. Weight, for example, is much more important. Also, drones are much more active when flying. The experiences I gained in my racing days help me in my job in many places: be it tuning, aerodynamic effects, vibration, radio or battery issues.
What do you like about your job and the company?
I like that the team consists of so many different people: people from the automotive industry, aeronautics, physicists, robotics and many others. And the work is not monotonous. There are many facets, whether it’s in development, flying in systems, or on-site with customers. And the flexible working hours are great.
Is there anything particularly memorable about your time here so far and is there anything you would like to see in the future?
Flying our 25kg drone Auriol for the first time was impressive. I would love to fly it through a course with FPV headset. The sound would be amazing.
And last but not least: What advice would you give to other people who want to be part of the team?
That you should dare: this field is not something you can have learned the classical way. If you have flown something actively as a hobby, and have developed a little yourself, you can definitely bring that to the table. So anyone who is interested in the subject should apply.
(Thanks to Heiko Schenk for the additional photos!)
Last week it was happening: The first table tennis tournament took place to find the 3EA Champion 2023. In 30 exciting matches the three best were finally determined:
Chiara (3rd place, picture 2, right), Niklas (2nd place, picture 2, left) and the undefeated winner Heiko (picture 3)!
Meanwhile, burgers were grilled and eaten and foosball was played. Thanks to all who were there and see you at next year’s tournament!
Our thanks also go to Sport Weckenbrock for sponsoring prizes!
So there it is: the AURIOL! The week before last, we delivered the system for the first time. We hope for many more such moments, of course.
The AURIOL is our newest and largest drone to date. It sets new standards in the UAV sector: with a maximum take-off weight of 25kg, the octocopter is particularly suitable for use cases that require high payloads or long distances.
Redundant motors, four battery packs, integrated parachute and many other safety features ensure maximum stability and safety with the best possible performance. This makes the AURIOL perfectly suited for the delivery of urgently needed goods, integration of special sensors and many other application scenarios.
We are incredibly pleased that after many years of intensive development we were able to deliver the first Auriol last week. The first Auriol thus went to our friends and partners at Koerschulte.
We have been working with the traditional company Koerschulte from Lüdenscheid for several years now. With the Auriol, our new heavy-duty drone, which we will soon present in more detail, we want to jointly bring new impetus to the logistics industry. With the help of our drones, Koerschulte wants to establish delivery by drone as a service and thus respond to the various challenges in the B2B delivery industry.
We would like to thank you for your trust and are of course looking forward to working with you in the future!
… we have, but especially the consortium of the project “Drones4Bats”. The development of renewable energies is more than desirable in today’s world, but at the same time the protection of endangered species is no less important. The aim of the project is therefore to use drones to record the activity of bats around wind turbines.
This should solve several problems at the same time: when building new wind turbines, the surrounding area can be examined for bats and new turbines can be planned and built more quickly accordingly.
For existing wind turbines, the exact periods of bat activity can be recorded. In both cases, this is intended to prevent bat strikes, i.e. the animals dying or being injured. At the same time, wind turbines can be further expanded and periods of use can be made more effective. Previously, wind turbines often had to be taken out of operation to avoid further endangering the species-protected animals.
The envisaged technical solution involves the mobile recording of bats with drones and integrated recording devices. Compared to previous measurements from the ground or from the wind turbine nacelle, this allows significantly larger effective areas to be covered. We provide the project and the partners with one of our ConVecDro drones (left in the picture) to develop a solution that is as automated and bat-friendly as possible.
https://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Banner_windrad_title.png40002466Maike Niehaushttps://3rd-element.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo_Name_black-1-300x130.pngMaike Niehaus2023-07-21 12:46:592023-08-03 10:46:23An open ear for bats
We use cookies to optimize our website snd service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist für den rechtmäßigen Zweck der Speicherung von Präferenzen erforderlich, die nicht vom Abonnenten oder Benutzer angefordert wurden.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu anonymen statistischen Zwecken verwendet wird. Ohne eine Vorladung, die freiwillige Zustimmung deines Internetdienstanbieters oder zusätzliche Aufzeichnungen von Dritten können die zu diesem Zweck gespeicherten oder abgerufenen Informationen allein in der Regel nicht dazu verwendet werden, dich zu identifizieren.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
