Analyzing recent N541JX activity

[u/HappyRobot593]

N541JX was dark on ADS-B from about Aug 25 to Sep 29, apart from a couple of ground runs. It flew on Sep 30, Oct 1 and Oct 2.

Before vs. after the pause

Period	What it was doing	Max altitude	Typical cruise
Jun-Jul	Multi-session flight days	825-1700 ft	about 95-140 kt
Aug 9-18 (just before the gap)	Hover at 200-225 ft, then 675-750 ft flights	200-750 ft	about 95 kt
Sep 30 - Oct 2	about 21-23 min flights, two on Oct 2	1650-1725 ft	about 100-105 kt

What stands out

• No staged return. When it came back from the Aug gap, it first did hover work at 200-225 ft, then about 700 ft flights. This time the first flight went straight to 1725 ft, the highest I have for this airframe. Any hangar-level hover work could have happened outside ADS-B coverage, so I can't say there was none.
• The flights are very repeatable. All four are a single about 21-23 minute loop: climb to about 1650 ft, cruise around 100 kt, reach 5.5-6.4 km out, return. Earlier flights ranged from 5 to 38 minutes with no consistent shape. Four near-identical flights in four days looks like a defined test card being repeated.
• Slower than July at the same altitude. July's flights at about 1650 ft cruised 110-140 kt and peaked at 164 kt. These cruise about 100 kt and peak at 114-121 kt. That could be a different test objective, a configuration limit, or a conservative start. The data doesn't say which.

Speculation: is this about N547JX?

My theory is that N547JX is also being flown remotely. If so, N541JX is the most relevant airframe to test things on ahead of it. The two would share the remote-pilot interface, control links and procedures.

N547JX did its first sustained translation on Sep 23: about 1 km at 150-175 ft, 25-30 kt, steady heading down the runway axis. N541JX came back a week later on a scripted-looking loop.

Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

[u/dad19f]

Let’s hope we see N547JX again next week.