Cool toys for big boys are never out of fashion, and when it comes to a helicopter, it's even harder to believe that there will be too many men left unimpressed. Even though the Yamaha RMAX may sound like anything except a helicopter, it is a chopper nevertheless. Funny thing, we also thought that RMAX stood for some sort of racing version of the MAX scooters...
The RMAX is not new, however. Yamaha has been commissioned back in 1983 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery of Japan to engineer an unmanned helicopter for agricultural purposes. Four years later, the R-50 arrived, with a 20-kg (44 lb) payload, and it was used for crop dusting.
After another four years, the Ministry debuted the unmanned helicopter program, and Yamaha's RMAX became commercially available.
In the spring of 1995, Yamaha revealed the YACS (Yamaha Attitude Control System), and in the fall of 1997, the industrial-use RMAX arrived, with enhanced features and vastly superior controllability. Japanese agriculture currently employs around 2,400 RMAX helicopters, representing more than 3/4 of the whole market share.
GPS and new technologies expanded the range of use for the Yamaha RMAX helicopters
Thanks to their versatility, the Yamaha RMAX' controllability allowed agriculture workers to spray the crops with unprecedented precision, optimizing the chemicals and fuel consumption, and reducing the costs for smaller areas. Weed management, fertilizing, pest control, and many more, the Yamaha RMAX could do it with optimal accuracy, and thus grew increasingly popular.
The development of better-integrated GPS-dependent technologies allowed Yamaha to extend the range of usability for the RMAX beyond agriculture.
The RMAX was used for the observation of erupting volcanoes and more uses are becoming possible thanks to the new technologies implemented in unmanned flying vehicles.
Yamaha RMAX has a total length of 2.75 m (108.2") with the 3.13 m (123.2") rotor extending the figure a bit. The helicopter is 1.08 m (42.5") tall and has a 72 cm (28.3") width, with a load capacity of 28 kg (61.8 lb).
It is powered by a 2-stroke boxer engine with a 246cc displacement and which produces 20.6 horsepower. It may be a rather expensive gadget if you don't put it to work, but who cares, given that it is such a cool piece of Yamaha machinery?
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