While I am hopeful that this doesn't result in a blanket restriction of all personal RC's with cameras, etc, recent fear-mongering trends in the media have me thinking pessimistically.
I encourage anyone who could be affected (remember: how CA goes, goes a lot of the US - especially concerning the media and film industry) to consider writing to this state senator. http://sd20.senate.ca.gov/contact
Positive reinforcement from this community could go a long way in setting up the fledgling non-military UAV industry for the long run.
Posted by Jonathan M on December 28, 2011 at 4:54pm
Finally got the time to finish my quad and (attempt to) fly it! It's my first quad. and I went a little different with the setup (see specs below) to try and see if I could push the propulsive efficiency up a bit and have more power on tap for heavier payloads down the line. My static tests indicated that this is the case, but we'll see if it was worth the effort after some more flying :)
Setup:
APM 2.0
3DR Frame
DT750kv motors
Turnigy 25amp Plush ESCs
12x3.8 SF APC props
Turnigy 4000mah 3s 30-40c
Hitec Aurora 9
TOGW = 1420 grams
See current tuning:
Video of best flight (i.e. didn't flip over or hit a tree)
Positives:
1) It flew!
2) Somewhat stable..
3) No damage besides mostly superficial prop scuffing and small chip at one prop tip. 3DR frame seems pretty darn solid. I tried to take it easy
Issues: 1) Even though i triple checked the wiring (albeit, I did not do the complete pre-flight check.. shame on me) I seem to have motors reversed. It rolls the way I expect it to - Left stick = left, right stick = right; but it pitches opposite - Fwd stick = reverse flight, Backwards stick = forward flight. Can this simply be fixed by reversing my throttle command on my transmitter? My first though it that this will work with the stablized mode, but any other mode will not be corrected. Or is this the standard way to fly a quad?
Note: just checked PBD wiring again and it's correct according to these instructions. Still not sure why it pitches opposite of what i am expecting.
2) As you can see in the videos the quad tends to drift (all of my flying was done in "stable mode") in various directions. I also see some oscillations. Tuning advice?
3) On a few occasions after a hard landing, the quad would flip it's and max throttle the motors attempting to right itself for a few seconds (hence the prop scuffing). Is this common? Gentler landings did not seem to cause this problem.
One note: besides some R/C planes and one of those small, stabilized RC helis I have not flown anything like this. I am sure that some of the issues are pilot error which will only improve with more time.
I am going to attempt to fly it again tomorrow, but will probably try to find a bigger area.. with grass.
