Built for operators. Backed by aerospace expertise. Driven by real-world performance.

Welcome to the Q1 2026 edition of Dufour Aerospace’s newsletter.

After a year focused on proving the aircraft concept through flight testing and system development, the focus has shifted toward preparing the platform for real operational use. This means moving beyond individual demonstrations and working toward consistent performance, integration into operational workflows, and validation in environments that reflect real missions.

During this quarter, activities were centred on building that operational foundation. This included expanding flight campaigns, introducing external pilots to the system, testing deployment in new environments, and gathering direct feedback from partners. In parallel, developments such as remote operator capabilities and BVLOS-related work have started to shape how the aircraft will be used in practice.

Rather than focusing on isolated milestones, the emphasis is now on connecting these elements, flight performance, operational handling, and system integration, into a platform that can be used reliably across missions.

Flight testing: what we learn from repeated flights

Flight testing is not about a single successful flight, but running the same mission repeatedly and comparing how the system behaves each time.

During Q1, flight testing continued with a focus on executing complete mission profiles end-to-end, rather than testing individual phases in isolation.

Each flight covered:

• Vertical takeoff and hover
• Transition into forward flight
• Cruise performance
• Transition back and landing

Executing full mission profiles allows the team to assess how the aircraft performs across the entire flight, particularly during transitions where aerodynamic and propulsion conditions change significantly. These phases are critical, as control behavior, lift generation, and propulsion demands shift continuously.

Running these missions repeatedly enables direct comparison between flights. This makes it possible to identify where system behavior remains consistent and where deviations occur, providing a basis for refining control parameters using real flight data.

Across all missions, onboard data is recorded from propulsion, flight control, and avionics systems. This includes inputs, system responses, and performance metrics throughout each phase of flight.

After each flight, this data is analysed in detail to assess:

• Control response during transitions
• Stability in hover and forward flight
• Consistency of propulsion behaviour across flight phases
• Deviations between expected and observed performance

These findings are then used to adjust control parameters, update system behavior, and define subsequent test profiles. This creates a continuous loop between flight, analysis, and refinement.

By repeating these mission profiles under varying conditions, the team builds a more complete understanding of system performance across the full flight envelope and identifies where further refinement is required before moving toward operational use.

Learn more about the Aero-200 platform

Canada operations: flying with Volatus Aerospace

This quarter, an Aero-30 was deployed to Canada for ongoing flight activities.

In collaboration with Volatus Aerospace , the focus was not only on flying the aircraft but on operating it with external pilots.

This included:

• Training Volatus pilots on system behavior and flight procedures
• Executing flights with pilots outside the core development team
• Observing how the aircraft is handled by operators who were not involved in development

This is an important step as it shows:

• Whether the aircraft behaves predictably for trained operators
• How much explanation or support is required before a flight
• How easily the system can be integrated into an operational workflow

The outcome shows how the aircraft can be used in practice.

Learn more about our collaboration with Volatus Aerospace

Flight activities: from Dübendorf to Västervik

One week after a demonstration flight in Dübendorf, testing continued in Västervik, Sweden, where the Aero-200 is now being operated under varying conditions.

Operating in different environments introduces changes that directly affect how the aircraft is flown and evaluated. Airspace structure and coordination differ, requiring adjustments in flight planning, communication procedures, and integration with other airspace users. The available infrastructure also changes how the aircraft is prepared and deployed, from ground handling to launch and recovery setups.

Environmental conditions play a key role as well. Wind patterns, temperature, and coastal influences in Västervik affect hover stability, transition behavior, and overall system response. These factors cannot be fully replicated in a single test location and need to be observed in practice.

At the same time, operational workflows are tested. This includes how missions are prepared, executed, and monitored outside the core development environment. The focus is on running repeated flight profiles, collecting data across missions, and comparing system behavior to previous flights in Switzerland to understand how consistently the aircraft performs.

Support from Västervik Drone Science Park (VDSP) provides dedicated test infrastructure, while collaboration with Savback Helicopters enables operational feedback in an active aviation environment.

Learn more about Dufour Aerospace

Advancing operations: remote operator room and BVLOS capabilities

A key focus this quarter has been the development and initial use of control room functionalities to support remote operations.

The first remote operator room has been established in Dübendorf, where initial flights have been conducted with the operator no longer positioned at the aircraft itself, but instead managing the mission from a dedicated control environment. This setup enables continuous monitoring of flight parameters, system status, and mission progress from a central location.

Instead of deploying personnel to each flight location, the operator can supervise the aircraft remotely, while local activity is reduced to launch and recovery support. This separation between aircraft and operator is a necessary step toward scalable operations.

From an operational perspective, this enables the coordination of multiple missions from a single location, reduces the need for distributed teams, and supports operations in different regions without requiring a permanent on-site presence. This has direct implications for deployment speed, operational planning, and overall cost structure.

In parallel, these developments support progress toward BVLOS operations. Operating beyond direct visual range requires a reliable link between the aircraft and control station, continuous system monitoring, and clearly defined operational procedures.

The introduction of the control room allows these elements to be tested in a structured environment, including data transmission, operator situational awareness, and decision-making during flight.

Rather than a single milestone, this is an ongoing step in the transition from local flight testing to distributed operations. It defines how missions can be planned, monitored, and executed when aircraft are no longer tied to a single physical location.

The next step is to bring these capabilities into flight operations.

Media coverage: where the industry is moving

This quarter, Dufour Aerospace was featured in both SkyNews.ch and Zürcher Oberländer.

In these discussions, a recurring theme emerged: Unmanned aircraft are moving from demonstration projects toward practical use in logistics, medical transport, and remote operations.

For this shift to happen, systems need to do more than fly. They need to:

• Operate reliably and repeatedly
• Integrate into real workflows
• Perform under different conditions

That is the stage the industry is now entering.

Technology focus: how flight control is developed

At the upcoming International Drone Show , CEO Sascha Hardegger will present how Dufour Aerospace develops and validates its flight control system across the full development cycle.

The approach combines simulation and real-flight validation to manage the transition between vertical and forward flight, a key technical challenge for tilt-wing aircraft.

This includes:

• Developing control models in simulation to define expected system behavior
• Testing across different flight regimes, including hover, transition, and cruise
• Applying gain scheduling to adapt control laws as aerodynamic conditions change
• Using control allocation to distribute commands across multiple actuators
• Validating system behavior through repeated flight tests and data analysis

These steps are required because the aircraft operates under fundamentally different aerodynamic conditions, in which control inputs, lift generation, and propulsion behavior change significantly between flight phases.

Rather than relying on a single validation step, the system is refined through repeated cycles of simulation, testing, and flight, with each iteration used to adjust control behavior and improve stability across transitions.

In parallel with these developments, Dufour Aerospace will be present at the UAS Forum in Västervik, alongside partner Savback Helicopters. The team is currently preparing for on-site activities, including planned flight demonstrations as part of the programme.

These events provide an opportunity to observe system performance outside the core test environment and demonstrate how the aircraft behaves under real operational conditions.

Join us at IDS 2026

Thanks for reading our Q1 2026 newsletter. More updates will follow as flight activities and operational campaigns continue.