There are already systems developed by universities that can record a 3D flight of a helicopter and "play it back." Open source autopilots are available for many different platforms including fixed-wing, helis, and multi-rotors. Combining the two is simply a task for the willing, and able - nothing secretive or overly complex about it.

The two main questions are:

1) why would you do it (i.e., who would buy it)?

2) how reliable is it?

The first question is probably the harder question to answer - what's the market and who's going to pay back the NRE cost that it would take to write and test the code. Even if somebody did it for fun, it would be such a time consuming project that very few people would do just for the heck of it...

The second question is actually related to the first. In order for it to be reliable, it has to be designed with that in mind from the start, *and* it needs to be thoroughly flight tested, both of which have associated *costs* (in time and/or money). If nobody is going to buy it, why bother.

We build UAV autopilots in our lab as part of our research, so I know what kind of effort goes into doing that and what it would take to make one reliable enough for me to put in my jets. For me, no commercially available system other than a single axis gyro on nose wheel steering/rudder meets that criteria - neither do the systems we build, by the way. I'm overly cautious in that regard, I admit, but I do have some experience upon which to base that opinion.

Besides, I get a kick out of executing a successful jet flight on the "bare metal" without the "assistance" of the automation that I work with every day. YMMV...

Bob