Krossblade SkyProwler Store

Our official online store offers you the SkyProwler 2 VTOL Transformer UAV. Here you can also purchase spare parts for the first generation SkyProwler 1.

SkyProwler 2

SkyProwler 2 is the second generation of the SkyProwler vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV.

The Covid lockdowns in different parts of the world have at times severely affected and continue to affect our ability to procure parts and supplies. We are behind in deliveries to customers. Please check with us before placing an order so we can give you a more accurate delivery estimate.

We offer you a discount coupon, please sign up to get the code before you order.

If you want to make partial payments, may we ask to locate the "Partial Payment" option below the "Extras". This is useful for the many people who have chosen to have a daily spending limit on their credit card. With a partial payment you can spread your payment over several days. The partial payments option can also be used to pay for custom options.

Upgrades

SkyProwler 2 - Extras/Spares

Some spare part are available as stl file for 3D printing, or, free of charge from us. Please check the manuals/download section.

SkyProwler 1 - Extras/Spares

SkyProwler 1 is not available for sale anymore. However, we still support the aircraft with spare parts that can be purchased here. Some spare part are available as stl file for 3D printing, or, free of charge from us. Please check the manuals/download section.

Bank Transfers/Payments

We accept payment via bank transfer and can offer a 2% discount for such payments. You may incur a fee from your bank but it’s likely that overall a bank payment is slightly cheaper than a credit card payment.

Awesome Performance, Great Value  

SkyProwler 2 is the second generation of the Professional-Grade High-Performance Multi-Mission Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Transformer UAV. It takes off like a multicopter, picks up speed using its high-powered thruster, and then transitions to winged cruise flight. The multirotor take-off mechanism folds away in-flight giving SkyProwler efficient aerodynamics and hence speed, endurance and range far better than pure copters and on-par with pure airplanes.

But that is not all. Some missions require maximum hover time and tight turns in addition to great bursts of speed. Think of filming a car approaching a stopping point, and then going off again, think of filming pets and other animals running around, think of sports! No problem! Reconfigure SkyProwler without tools, by taking the wings off and what was the winged SkyProwler "Blade" configuration, becomes the wingless "Hornet" configuration.

The Eye Cam 4K 3D stabilized upgrade allows for quick lens changes, e.g. changing from a more wide angle, to a more zoomed lens.

The automatic cargo drop door module can replace the bottom plate of the cargo compartment and allows for the drop of cargo in mid-flight.

Why SkyProwler?

1. Unparalleled flight performance

Just like common multirotor drones SkyProwler can take off and land from virtually anywhere. After transition to forward flight the multirotor take-off mechanism folds away in-flight (patent-pending switchblade transformation) transforming SkyProwler into a slick aircraft with super efficient aerodynamics and hence speed endurance and range far better than pure copters and on-par with pure airplanes. SkyProwler can fly around twice as long as multicopters, on the same battery charge. SkyProwler is also much faster than multicopters. Longer duration and higher speed multiply into far longer range.

2. Multi-mission adaptability

You can fly SkyProwler as a high-speed VTOL airplane (the Blade), ideal for long range, high-speed and long duration flights, or as a pure multicopter with thrusters (the Hornet), ideal for missions with maximum hover time, tight turns, and lots of acceleration and stop and go. You can make the reconfiguration in the field without tools, you just take the wings off.

3. Eyecam with integrated gimbal stabilization (igs)

The 3D stabilized 4K Eyecam has been designed to maintain aerodynamic profile of SkyProwler. Its round shape and position at the front of the aircraft mean that wherever you point it at, your aircraft is just as aerodynamically efficient as before. There is no interference of the propellers, they are neither directly visible, nor do they throw chopped shadows onto the camera when they intersect the sunlight from above.

4. Spacious cargo compartment

SkyProwler can carry around 500g/1.1lb of payload. You can use it to transport and deliver cargo or to house additional electronics and sensor packages. Another possibility is to house an additional battery for longer flight times. The cargo compartment is housed below the wings. Above the wings, accessible via a generous space in between the wings, are places to attach sensor packages to the aircraft body.

5. Equipped for autonomous missions  

SkyProwler is controlled by powerful 32 bit hardware based on the PixHawk.. It is fully compatible with highly developed open-source flight control firmware. It also allows for full ground-based mission planning and fully autonomous missions via the ground control software (based on the open source QGroundControl), including the flying along GPS waypoints, the snapping of images at certain GPS coordinates, mapping and surveys, geo-fencing and GPS auto-follow.

6. Safety features

SkyProwler's flight controller is programmed with a host of safety features that help pilots avoid trouble. The most important is the auto-return to home function. Flip the panic toggle on the radio ground station and SkyProwler returns to the take off point, If SkyProwler flies out of radio range or gets low on battery then it can also be set to return home.

Vertical Take-Off and Landing

Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) enables aircraft to operate from virtually any environment. No runway is required. This opens up flying to a much larger range of possible terrains, from backyards and rough fields, over snow-covered mountains and sandy beaches, to a boat on the sea.  

The problem with traditional VTOL machines such as helicopters and more recently multirotors is that they are slow and inefficient. This is because such machines always have to actively work to stay in the air, in addition to pushing themselves forward. The energy it takes to spin the rotors that keeps rotorcraft in the air DOES NOT generate any forward motion, additional energy has to be expended to get a rotorcraft to move forward. In a winged airplane on the other hand, the energy expended to move the wings through the air to generate lift, at the same time DOES also generate forward motion. Also, large rotors standing in the oncoming wind of a moving aircraft are very detrimental to aerodynamics and hence speed, endurance and range. In summary, winged aircraft can typically fly twice as fast as rotorcraft, stay in the air twice as long and have a range that can reach 4 times that of rotorcraft on the same amount of fuel/energy. Winged air travel can be just as energy efficient as travel by car, but it is up to 8 times faster! 

Combining VTOL and winged flight is a fairly obvious theoretical idea. However, in order for this to make sense, the resulting vehicle must offer the best of both rotor-powered VTOL and winged flight, not a compromise. This is where the switchblade transformation mechanism comes in.

Switchblade Transformation Mechanism 

The patent-pending switchblade transformation mechanism transforms SkyProwler from a multirotor craft with big, slowly moving rotors, excellent at VTOL and hover, into a pure, sleek and aerodynamic airplane excellent at fast and efficient cruise flight. 

How does this compare to other VTOL mechanisms? You can find a more detailed discussion here: http://www.krossblade.com/disc-loading-and-hover-efficiency/ 

Briefly: The most well known VTOL mechanism for winged aircraft is the tiltrotor mechanism by which the propellers of an aircraft are tilted from vertical for take-off and landing, to horizontal for cruise flight. The issue with this is the following: VTOL works best with big rotors, in fact the larger the rotor, the less power it takes to lift a weight. Tiltrotor airplane propellers are typically larger than 'normal' propellers, but they are much smaller than those of say a pure VTOL craft, such as a helicopter. What this means is that tiltrotors can typically only lift 4 to 5 lbs (around 2kg) per horse power, while craft with more rotor area, can lift 10 to 12 lbs (around 5kg) per hp. This means bigger (and heavier) engines, more noise, faster down wash (down wash is the wind that blows in your face when for example a helicopter takes off). In cruise flight on the other hand, small propellers/rotors are best, because they offer the oncoming air less area to drag on. In effect, small fast spinning propellers are like 6th gear on a car - a lot of speed, but low torque. Big, slowly spinning rotors are like 1st gear on a car, little speed, but lots of torque. A tilt-rotor by analogy is hence not dissimilar from a car always driving in third gear. It works, but it burns more gas, is not as fast, and gets going more slowly. 

For a more in-depth discussion of how different propellers/rotors suit different purposes please click here: http://www.krossblade.com/different-rotors-for-different-purposes/ The other existing mechanism employed for VTOL is called thrust-vectoring, and is used on jet aircraft such as the Harrier and the F-35. These aircraft are strictly built for awesome speed. As a side effect of that their engines are so powerful that it is possible to direct their jet thrust downwards in order to push the aircraft straight up for a vertical take-off. The problem: the effective lift area of the small nozzles and fans that direct the jet thrust is very small. Using the car analogy, these aircraft take-off in 6th gear. And so because of this all the 20,000 hp (or so) are needed to lift 40,000 lbs of aircraft straight up. The resulting noise is ear-deafening, it literally burns a ton of jet fuel, down-wash velocities reach 350 mph (550kph) and the down wash can be so hot that it can melt the concrete off the air strip from which they take off 

To summarize the car analogy employed for different VTOL craft:

• Helicopters and multicopters always fly in '1st gear'

• Tiltrotors always fly in '3rd gear'

• Thrustvector systems always fly in '6th gear'

• SkyProwler (switchblade transformation mechanism) takes off and lands in '1st gear' and cruises in '6th gear'

Applications

• "Sending a drone out to recon an active wildland fire is highly preferably to sending out one of a very few volunteers to do the same task, when we've got to put a fire out before it gets away from us and endangers everyone in the area." - JA

• " I use my various UAS platforms for shooting stills and video that gets used by ACE and the parks. Aerial footage in Disneyland of the Matterhorn ride" - AH

• "I am working in agricultural mapping, so this uav seems to be perfect to this task since this UAV can do vertical take off and can cover vast range of area." - FO

• "I may be interested in this concept for use in emergency response, especially in the field of search and rescue, and post-disaster scene survey. " - CJ

• " I'm a shark biologist who's interested in seeing if a product like the SkyProwler could be used as an early warning system to detect sharks at beaches. " - W

Terms and Conditions

1. ORDER: There is currently a short wait for deliveries.

2. DELIVERY: SkyProwler 2 UAVs ordered today will NOT be immediately shipped. Estimated wait time at the moment is 8 weeks. It is possible that the wait time is longer. Aircraft are built to order and it can happen that a particular part takes longer than scheduled to arrive. This is especially true in the current Covid situation. Please take responsibility to update us in case your delivery address has changed. Once tracking information has been issued to you, please track the package and alert us should problems arise. We will try our best to assist in such a case. Please immediately let us and/or the courier know if there seems to be a problem. Please ensure that someone is available to receive the package to avoid it being left unattended.

3. COOLING-OFF AND RETURNS: You have a cooling-off period of 7 business days after your payment, during which we will refund your payment at your request. After this point we will have started building your SkyProwler aircraft and after an order cancellation from your side only a partial refund will be possible. The size of this partial refund is at our discretion. Typically we will have to at least cover material cost, cost of equipment use, rents, wages, logistics and other cost that are/were related to your order, as determined by us. Once your order or pre-order has been shipped out, even if it is only a partial shipment, we do not accept returns.

4. FEES: Your bank may charge you currency conversion fees/margins even for a refunded transaction. We are not responsible for such costs. You are solely responsible for any taxes, tariffs, duties or fees upon receiving your items.

5. DESIGN & SPECS: We have made every effort to display correct specifications, but do not guarantee their accuracy. Items received may vary from the pictures displayed on our website. Please keep in mind that each SkyProwler 2 aircraft is individually built by hand. There is hence a natural variation in aspects such as, but not limited to, surface finish and coloring.

6. PARTIAL PAYMENTS: We enable you to make partial payments toward a purchase, this can be useful if your credit card company is limiting your daily purchase limits. If you are using partial payments, then please let us know by using the form during checkout, or by emailing us at info@krossblade.com . Your purchase is not complete before the fully due amount has been received by us. The shipping date will be determined by the timing of the final payment.

7. WARRANTY: We offer you a limited dead-on-arrival (DOA) warranty for SkyProwler. Should SkyProwler be DOA then you can ship SkyProwler back to us. We will investigate and if DOA is confirmed by us, we will then ship the repaired or a new unit to you as soon as possible. DOA means that an unused SkyProwler taken out of the box by the customer, does not function at all. The DOA warranty specifically excludes tampering with SkyProwler, as well as handling SkyProwler improperly and not in accordance with the manual. Should there be a partial malfunction, we will attempt to resolve the problem via video conferencing, email or another form of electronic communication. This attempt may involve us shipping parts to you and then guiding you through the repair process. If SkyProwler was damaged in transport then it may be necessary to involve the shipping company to ascertain if the damage was caused due to improper handling during shipping. As recipient, damages caused during shipping are your responsibility, although we will attempt to fix issues for you if we can. Please alert us immediately if there is the possibility that items were damaged during shipping. We typically insure shipment but there are typically deadlines by which damages have to be reported in order to be able to receive an insurance pay out. Returning an aircraft to us for repair does not constitute a return and does not entitle you to a refund. This applies even if you refuse to accept the aircraft shipped back to you from us or if the aircraft otherwise cannot be handed back over to you.

8. COUPONS & DISCOUNTS: Coupons are valid for purchases including a SkyProwler 2 UAV only.

9. REFUSAL OF SERVICE: We reserve the right to deny delivery to anyone for any reason, against a full refund.

10. SHIPPING OPTIONS: You are responsible to please pick the correct shipping option. Should you not, we may have to ask you to make an additional payment to cover shipping before we start building/shipping your SkyProwler 2. If you have picked a too expensive shipping option, we will of course refund you the difference. You are responsible for local taxes, fees and tariffs. Failure to pick the correct shipping option does not give you the right to cancel your order. We will hold your items until the correct shipping option has been picked and funded

11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: SkyProwler and SkyProwler 2 are not toys but machines capable of traveling in the air at significant velocities. Krossblade Aerospace Systems LLC is not in any way responsible for accidents, damages, loss of business or grievances that may occur while customers use the SkyProwler or SkyProwler 2 UAVs and any of its upgrades and accessories, whether this involves only the aircraft, or other assets or the operator or other persons. Please consult your country's/state's/city's laws and regulations to ensure that you operate the SkyProwler UAV in accordance with current laws and regulations. Please consult the manual and the instructional videos on this website before taking to the air. Please always conduct a pre-flight check of your SkyProwler UAV before every take-off. Even a fully intact UAV may malfunction in the air due to radio interference, weather conditions, collisions with obstacles, other aerial vehicles or a number of other factors so it is important that you plan your flight accordingly. Please remember that you alone are responsible for the safe operation of your SkyProwler or SkyProwler 2 UAV.

12. DISPUTE RESOLUTION: If there is a dispute between you and Krossblade Aerospace Systems LLC(Krossblade) relating to these terms, the sale of the product, the software license, or the warranties applicable to the product and the software and we cannot resolve the dispute informally, you and Krossblade agree to resolve such disputes through final and binding individual arbitration before a single arbitrator, instead of in court. THIS MEANS NEITHER PARTY SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE SUCH CLAIMS IN COURT OR TO HAVE A JURY TRIAL. ALSO DISCOVERY AND APPEAL RIGHTS ARE LIMITED IN ARBITRATION. This agreement to arbitrate does not apply to any claims seeking injunctive or other emergency relief and the arbitrator in any such arbitration shall have no power to issue injunctions. This agreement to arbitrate and any arbitration under it are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“Arbitration Act”). Any arbitration will be conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and its Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes. This Agreement governs to the extent it conflicts with the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules, the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes or any other rules of the AAA.

13. CLASS ACTION WAIVER: ARBITRATION MUST BE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. THIS MEANS NEITHER YOU NOR WE MAY JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION BY OR AGAINST OTHER SKYPROWLER OWNERS, OR LITIGATE IN COURT OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIMS AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF A CLASS OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY.

14. CHOICE OF COURT: Any disputes that are not submitted to arbitration, despite our agreement to arbitrate disputes, including any lawsuits filed to compel arbitration, will be heard only in Delaware.

15. CHANGES: Terms and Conditions may change without notice.

16. By placing a pre-order or order, either online, or via other means you agree to these terms and conditions.

Privacy Policy

1. Your credit card transactions are handled securely by Stripe Inc. Krossblade Aerospace Systems LLc does not have access to your credit card data and cannot and will not store it.

2. If you sign up on our website, we store the data that you provide in the sign up form.

3. If you place an order or order on our website, although the transaction is handled securely by Stripe Inc, we do have access to your name, address, email and possibly phone number and we may transfer this information to our own system in order to make the delivery or communicate with you. We do not have access to your credit card information.