HOME-GROWN UN MANNED AIRCRAFT
OUT ON A private airfield, somewhere on the fringes of Knysna in the Western Cape, a bright orange unmanned aircraft is about to shoot up into the air and embark on its journey with a small payload and an impressive flight distance.
The Garden Route town is the birthplace of one of the first commercially viable ultra-long-endurance vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing aircraft in the world, and it’s completely home-grown.
Duran de Villiers, owner and creator of the business, had the idea for his aviation company ALTI Unmanned Aircraft Systems when he began using drones to capture aerial photography for his successful media production company Motion Pixel. But his love of aviation soon took over and he pivoted the company towards drones, or unmanned aircraft.
ALTI now boasts a range of highly efficient products. Regarded as a small and ultra-compact-endurance VTOL, the ALTI Ascend
