Manually disassembled and readily shippable miniature, unmanned aircraft with data handling capability

A method of packing a miniature, unmanned, data handling aircraft for overnight shipment to destinations throughout the United States, comprising the steps of:

• providing a miniature, unmanned aircraft having a fuselage, landing gear, a vertical stabilizer, a horizontal stabilizer, a wing constructed to have effective lift area of at least eight hundred square inches and length of at least eight feet, a remote guidance system including an onboard microprocessor, an engine drivably connected to a propeller and an associated fuel supply system, a radio frequency receiver connected to the microprocessor, flight control surfaces and servomechanisms disposed to operate the flight control surfaces, and a mission data handling module having a housing and a data handling apparatus contained within the housing, wherein the gross weight of the aircraft is limited to be less than fifty-five pounds;
• providing connections enabling the wing, the landing gear, the horizontal stabilizer, and the mission data handling module to be readily attached to and removed from the fuselage;
• disassembling the aircraft into separate components including at least the wing, the fuselage, and the mission data handling module;
• and
• providing a first shipping container dimensioned and configured to receive and fully enclose at least the fuselage, a second shipping container dimensioned and configured to receive and fully enclose at least the wing, and a third shipping container dimensioned and configured to receive and fully enclose at least the mission data handling module, each of said first, second, and third shipping containers being dimensioned and configured for shipment by an overnight commercial courier air freight service.