Hi there fellow sandgropers! Jump on in and tell us a little about yourselves, how you got into UAV / UAS, where you live, fly and what you're up to!
My name is John Cousins and I live in Willetton. I started out as an aeronautics "geek" at Kent Street Senior High School and then moved onto fliying light aircraft with the usual dreams of becoming a commercial pilot.... then ran out of money.
I then decided that I would move into Aircraft Maintenance, working on Pilatus PC-9s for 8 years... got bored of driving all the way to Pearce every day so moved into the offshore oil and gas industry flying ROVs. (remotely operated sumbarines)
Always had a keen interest in R/C aircraft and electronics and thought I wonder if there was a way to fly remote aircraft around instead of submarines. 2 years ago I started "googling" civillian use UAVs. That led me to Ardupilot and here I am.
Do most of my flying at the Safety Bay salt lakes or near Barbagallo baseball park. Usually just with a APM equipped foam/plastic FPV raptor. I fly in other places too.... but often on weekdays at the crack of dawn when there is no-one around!
Replies
Hi everyone,
I've recently got back into this after a bit of experimentation a few years ago. As a project back then, I wrote FBW style code on a PICAXE (8 bit chip) and had that flying in an easy star. Work got in the way but now I am finally back having decided to take a great system off the shelf (Pixhawk) and get it in the air in my Bixler 2. In the last week have finally got the autopilot all dialed in and it flies nicely. Yesterday came about 10 seconds from a completely autonomous flight when I had to take over on landing as it was floating a bit long and heading for a car park. Next up cameras and more batteries for endurance.
Would be keen to see who flies where and when to compare notes - always like the idea of developing into bigger and longer endurance aircraft as I gain confidence with it all.
Ben
Hey all,
May as well get myself out there.
Firstly, I'm not from WA! Not even Australia unfortunately!! ..... Now don't hold this against me, but I am currently residing in New Zealand. **I'm a firm believer that NZ should become part of Australia.... so hopefully that will get me some brownie points??... **
*Edit*
....Ok so I haven't been kicked out the group yet. Good start.
So about me; Orginally from the UK, I have always had a keen interest in military technology, and until late in my teens all i ever wanted to do was be in the British Army. Cutting the story a bit, I side tracked and became a commercial pilot - doing the bulk of my training here in NZ.
Since completing my Commercial pilots licence, I have been very interested in the Unmanned Technology industry. For me, this industry combines my love of flying with my love for technology/Computers.
Why I am here? Finding it hard to prove my ability to potential operators... what better way to gloss up the CV, but by starting a project outside of work, to build a UAS platform!
I hope to be able to bring it out to Australia in the future! ....Probably to the UAV outback challenge??... Who know's. So i'm here to connect with people like you in WA to learn and connect, as the platform in many ways, is being designed to operate in WA.
I look forward to chatting with you all, and if you have any questions, ask away. Please feel free to check out our website too:
www.flicam.co.nz
Cheers,
Olly
Hello all!
Nice to see that there are so many WA pilots out there.
I am a 4th year electrical engineering student studying at Murdoch university in Western Australia. I have been flying RC for about a decade and in the last few of years have focused more attention towards FPV and toying with hobby grade UAS equipment. I have been working part time at Cyber Technology for a couple of years now and recently started a final year project aiming to use a UAS for photogrammetry/aerial survey. Here is an orthomosiac from a recent flight.
I am very keen for a meetup though am incredibly busy with uni for the next few weeks :(.
Regards,
Nick
Hi,
My name is Stephen and I live in Clarkson. I work in IT for an offshore drilling company at the moment. I have done IT now for 20 years or so after getting out of the RAAF where I was an Electronics Technician.
I have flown models on and off (mainly off) since I was a kid and have had several gliders over the years. I have done electric gliders now for many years as they are so easy to fly. You can just turn up at the park and have a quick fly anytime with no setting up.
My current aircraft is a HobbyKing Bixler. It is the sweetest flying plane I have ever owned and it bounces in hard landings which is great. I bought it as an ideal model for the APM2 and I want to trim it and get familiar with it before progressing to autopilot stage. I fly in a park in Somerley near where I live at the moment.
I would like to eventually build an solar electric long duration drone. I have an idea to mount solar cells in the wing with a transparent covering and see how that goes. Would like to eventually do a 24 hour flight.
Hello gentlemen.
My name is George, and I live up Ocean Reef way, and happily admit to being a very average Australian with my 2.5 kids, dog, white picket fence and a garage full of toys. Aviation was not really a choice in my life as a kid, Dad was a fairly competent glider pilot and I was usually right at his side (or in front, as I never did get my ticket).
I digressed in early adulthood and spent my late teens and nearly all my twenties in the ADF, about then I realised, one day I would need to get a real job, and since then have done just enough to be able to keep the family fed, and the garage stocked with toys. I ended up looking after commercial high-rise buildings, which really isn't as fun as what it should be.
R/C has been on and off most of my life, only the last 4 years have seen me dive right in. R/C gliding was the main game, then FPV gliding took me by storm, then FPV gliders that came back when you screwed up were the flavour, and now it's just a case of 'how many electronic gadgets can I fit in this airframe'. A couple of APM1 drive the gliders and I am just at the stage of tuning AMP2 in a 2.2m wing designed by Ritewing, a fearful machine with 3.8kW on tap, and a 50 - 210 km/h speed envelop. Needless to say, tuning is proving to be a challenge, to say the least.
I have fairly limited skills when it comes to programming, however I can manage to stumble my way through code changes when required and can include extras with a little work and a few drinks. I don't actually have a purpose for my drones and planes, I think I do this for the fascination and challenge of automated things that fly, and most importantly, automated things that fly back!
Today has begun a new challenge for me, and one that maybe of interest to a few of you on here. I have started an investigation into the process of having the area I fly at, recognised by CASA as a flying area for small UAV and model aircraft. I have enlisted the help of an ex-planning guy for the area and hope with a bit of foot work, this can be something I can push forward with. I have no intention of making a club or putting any infrastructure down, I hope to merely have the area recognised on chart and apply for an elevated ceiling. The area is effectively a bush site well out of every bodies way so I hope they don't place insurmountable hurdles in front of me and squash the idea. I feel there is a growing need for an area like this, in an effort to promote a better perception for amateur/hobby 'drones', as opposed to being at the mercy of the ignorant and misinformed general public when seen flying in the 'burbs. I'll be sure to let you know how this plan goes.
Will be great to contribute what I can here, and look forward to seeing what you lot get up to.
Regards,
George
Hi sandgropers from a canetoad on the otherside of our island.
Background is 30 plus years in IT and a couple of years in Aircraft maintenance. Now semi retired and working on the below project as a volunteer
We are creating a robot plane to investigate and map disaster zones.etc etc full details below.
http://openrelief.org/
http://openrelief.org/mailman/listinfo/developer_openrelief.org
http://openrelief.org/mailman/listinfo/outreach_openrelief.org
Alan