The GL-10 can take off vertically and transition into traditional winged flight in mid-air. (NASA Langley/David C. Bowman and Gary Banziger)

NASA has rolled out what looks like the B-52 of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Last week, NASA engineers successfully tested the Greased Lightning GL-10, which is a battery-powered, 10-rotor remotely piloted aircraft that can perform a useful trick: It takes off and lands like a helicopter, but can also transition to conventional flight in mid-air. Shifting from hover to wing-borne flight has long flummoxed aerospace engineers, but the GL-10 looks like a big step in the right direction.

Tilt-rotor Trouble

The GL-10 is NASA’s vision for the future of tilt-rotors, or aircraft that can vertically take off, but fly like traditional airplanes. Vertical takeoffs make the craft deployable in tight spaces, and shifting to winged flight makes it more efficient than a helicopter. The United States Marine Corps and Air Force already deploy hundreds of V-22 Osprey tilt-rotors all over the world, but these machines have a spotty — sometimes fatal — track record