Techpod completes first one hour long test flight

crystal garris August 30, 2012 at 5:08pm

the main criteria for the FAA is commercial ,hobby they don't care about.the definition of a uav , most simply put it is something that flies and does not carry a person .i know its been stated that a rpv is not a uav but it is . autonomus or not . no man in it = unmanned . all aircraft are manned to some degree .even one using an autopilot.how ever there are alternatives . rpfight services have been operating on a volenteer / donation basses and have been succesfull .send me a pm and we can brain storm

LanMark August 30, 2012 at 2:32pm

I guess I am confused with the FAA stuff.. is it technically a drone if you are flying it R/C? R/C planes have been around forever... the drone part would just be a failsafe, return to home sort of thing. Are they restricting all or just automated flight?

I know its < 400ft and the craft has to be smaller than a certain size and you must keep it in line of sight... but thats all for drone/automated flight right?

100KM

crystal garris August 30, 2012 at 12:07pm

@ Mark

would love to but the FAA is still not allowing commercial drone flights .

@everyone

some one asked me what the plane would be like if a dropped in a couple 8000 mah 3s lipos , this was my response :

ok some quickie numbers .
techpod weight as flown 1hour:
5lbs
weight of batteries flown (3x shida 2200) :
6.5 ounces per @ ~1.2 lbs
Energy consumed to fly 1 hour @ 5lbs:
5400 ma @ ~ 12v (3-cell) for 64.8 watts/hour approx

2 8000mah :
3s = 644 grams x 2 = 2.3 lbs
16000 mah at 12v = 192 watts

oh yes I forgot to mention that the techpod prototype you see in the pictures and video , is 1 lbs heavier then the molded EPO models will be . I weighed everything before I had to cover the dense styro-foam stuff it is made out of . it weighed about 2.75 lbs with aiframe,servos,moter,esc . but that was before i slathered on this stuff to make the super brittle foam flyable . It added a pound and won't be necessary on the EPO models of course ...
so that means if the weight is near the same with 2 x 8000mah lipos = 192/64 watts = 3 hours ?!! omg is that right ? im sure you guys will grill me if im wrong .
anyways enjoy ;-)

LanMark August 30, 2012 at 8:53am

if you want to raise money you should go out to where the forest fires are and set up a way for displaced home owners to pay you something to do a fly over of their house. With a 1 hour flight time you pretty much could go anywhere as long as you can maintain some sort of radio connection.. granted letting it fly via APM would work.

If I was displaced while a fire raged near my house I would pay for someone to fly over it and check on it.. not to mention insurance companies looking at their investments.. they (insurance companies) had over 1000 fire fighters that only worked for the insurance companies for the CO fires... if you had a 1+MM house they would protect it, since it was cheaper to pay for fire fighters then writting off 1+MM here and there.

Personally I really like the huge flying wings.. but then again I have never flown one.

100KM

crystal garris August 30, 2012 at 2:57am

things get erratic when you fast forward . this was an hour + long video had to FF through most of it to fit it onto youtube . and yes i compressed it that's why the "a butter on the lens"