--- title: The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a... description: Elroy Air completed the first uncrewed autonomous flights of a cargo aircraft under an FAA pilot program, flying its hybrid-electric Chaparral drone out of... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport | daily.dev og:description: Elroy Air completed the first uncrewed autonomous flights of a cargo aircraft under an FAA pilot program, flying its hybrid-electric Chaparral drone out of... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ZEnGgpVqE.png og:image:alt: The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Elroy Air completed the first uncrewed autonomous flights of a cargo aircraft under an FAA pilot program, flying its hybrid-electric Chaparral drone out of Houma-Terrebonne Airport in Louisiana for a week in late August. The 500lb-capacity, 450-mile-range aircraft carried mundane cargo like spare parts, medical supplies and water, alongside partners Bristow Group and LIFTOFF Louisiana, with air traffic control managing it among regular traffic. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford publicly endorsed the flights. Elroy Air is going public via SPAC merger and claims a pipeline exceeding 1,400 aircraft worth $5bn, though its own filings caution this is non-binding. Kratos Defense will manufacture the aircraft, with Lockheed Martin Ventures among investors, and the same airframe is being developed under Army contracts for battlefield logistics. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What was the first uncrewed autonomous flight completed under the FAA eVTOL Integration Pilot Program? Elroy Air flew its Chaparral hybrid-electric cargo aircraft with nobody on board out of Houma-Terrebonne Airport in Louisiana for a week in late August, carrying spare parts, medical supplies, food and water. Chaparral takes off vertically, carries over 500lb of cargo, has a 450-mile range, and needs no runway or charging infrastructure. Air traffic control handled it alongside regular airport traffic. _Developers building autonomous aviation software can follow FAA pilot program milestones like this on daily.dev._ ### Who is manufacturing the Elroy Air Chaparral aircraft? Kratos Defense and Security Solutions holds exclusive US manufacturing rights for the Chaparral and is expanding a Sacramento facility to build it, with first production aircraft planned for late 2026. Lockheed Martin Ventures, Shield Capital and Marlinspike Partners are investors. Elroy Air also holds a $46m multi-year US Army contract for a related autonomous VTOL aircraft carrying modular payloads. _Engineers tracking defense-funded autonomous vehicle programs can stay current on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Cargo drone startup Elroy Air nears an $800m SPAC deal](https://daily.dev/posts/cargo-drone-startup-elroy-air-nears-an-800m-spac-deal-fu3c2hsaz) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Helicopter drone for Royal Navy makes first autonomous fligh](https://daily.dev/posts/helicopter-drone-for-royal-navy-makes-first-autonomous-fligh-iapqoskvv) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Airbus is preparing two uncrewed combat aircraft from Kratos for first flight with a European mission system](https://daily.dev/posts/airbus-is-preparing-two-uncrewed-combat-aircraft-from-kratos-for-first-flight-with-a-european-missio-ngkw0u2w2) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#autonomous-systems](https://daily.dev/tags/autonomous-systems) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe"},"datePublished":"2026-09-03T10:04:42.107Z","dateModified":"2026-09-03T10:49:16.504Z","description":"Elroy Air completed the first uncrewed autonomous flights of a cargo aircraft under an FAA pilot program, flying its hybrid-electric Chaparral drone out of...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8ef910796c1de9aacda206cf7ec5b73b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8ef910796c1de9aacda206cf7ec5b73b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"autonomous-systems","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-faa-just-let-a-pilotless-cargo-plane-fly-out-of-a-working-airport-zenggpvqe#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What was the first uncrewed autonomous flight completed under the FAA eVTOL Integration Pilot Program?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Elroy Air flew its Chaparral hybrid-electric cargo aircraft with nobody on board out of Houma-Terrebonne Airport in Louisiana for a week in late August, carrying spare parts, medical supplies, food and water. Chaparral takes off vertically, carries over 500lb of cargo, has a 450-mile range, and needs no runway or charging infrastructure. Air traffic control handled it alongside regular airport traffic. Developers building autonomous aviation software can follow FAA pilot program milestones like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is manufacturing the Elroy Air Chaparral aircraft?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Kratos Defense and Security Solutions holds exclusive US manufacturing rights for the Chaparral and is expanding a Sacramento facility to build it, with first production aircraft planned for late 2026. Lockheed Martin Ventures, Shield Capital and Marlinspike Partners are investors. Elroy Air also holds a $46m multi-year US Army contract for a related autonomous VTOL aircraft carrying modular payloads. Engineers tracking defense-funded autonomous vehicle programs can stay current on daily.dev."}}]} ```