About

Gender

Male


About Me:

Aircraft Technician for Major US Airline for 28 years, RC Planes and Helis for 41 years.


Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

I'm just fascinated by it all. Everything from planes to quads.


Hometown:

Houston, TX


Activity Feed

Butch Lucas replied to Glenn M's discussion Another arducopter flips on takeoff thread.
"Abbas,
I also experienced this problem. I was trying firmware 3.3 after upgrading from an earlier version, on a genuine Pixhawk, some time back. After much searching I found a discussion telling the inquirer to reload the software by first loading a…"
May 25, 2018
Butch Lucas replied to Rolf Inge Sivertsen's discussion AC3.2.1 APM 2.5 Throttle pulsates in Loiter
"I put a genuine 3DR APM 2.5.2, that was collecting dust, into my Quanum Nova to replace the factory APM that was in it. (The factory stuff requires custom versions of copter) The Loiter/AltHold pulsating started as soon as I upgraded to 3.2.1. After…"
Dec 8, 2017
Butch Lucas replied to Jimmyscott's discussion My new torrent110
"I just got one as well. I am surprised by how fast it is. It is also a blast to fly."
Nov 2, 2017
Butch Lucas posted a discussion
First a little background, my quad was flying perfectly with APM 2.5 (Genuine 3D Robotics) using 3.1.5. After a while I began noticing all the uproar about the new Pixhawk hardware being much more robust and decided to give it a try. I purchased a…
Feb 11, 2017
Butch Lucas replied to Randy's discussion Copter-3.3 beta testing
"I read a post by Randy saying the PPM Channel Mapping issue would be resolved before 3.3 went final. Does anyone know if that is done?"
Jun 11, 2015
Butch Lucas replied to Randy's discussion Copter reliability vs functionality
"Maybe not everyone would consider it a bug but the problem of ppm channel mapping is still on the table and for some of us that is a real issue when it comes to Pixhawk. I've been playing the APM/Pixhawk game for a couple of years now and my APM 2.5…"
Jun 11, 2015
Butch Lucas replied to Randy's discussion Copter-3.3 beta testing
"Does anyone know when the RCMap issue might be fixed? I know Andy said "soon" but was hoping someone might be able to narrow it down a bit."
May 19, 2015
Butch Lucas replied to Randy's discussion Copter-3.3 beta testing
"Thanks Andy. Much appreciated."
May 14, 2015
Butch Lucas replied to Randy's discussion Copter-3.3 beta testing
"I just ran into a strange issue on my Pixhawk (Genuine 3DR). It's been months since I last had time to work with it and decided to try out 3.3 as I needed a good challenge. I previously had been running 3.1.5 and everything worked fine. Since I am…"
May 13, 2015
Butch Lucas replied to Ryan Brasil's discussion throttle up upon start up
"One thing I didn't see mentioned is whether you have completed the ESC calibration procedure. Take a look at this page and see if it helps. If not then one of the Grand Masters will have to help. ESC-Motor Calibration
Regards,
Butch"
Feb 19, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Raph's discussion Servo travel on startup (help!)
"Normally this is cause by the failsafe position of the receiver. Spektrum/JR receivers set failsafe when the binding process occurs and once the aircraft is fully set up and trimmed, you redo the bind process so the receiver sets the new positions…"
Feb 7, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Jay's discussion My radios lower throttle threshold is too high for the FS_THR_VALUE
"One small item to add to Gerard's excellent post. The Spektrum receivers set failsafe when the binding process occurs. That's how the AR8000 will see the new endpoint as the failsafe position. If you rebind at any time in the future, you will have…"
Feb 4, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Quentin Mayberry's discussion Is there a maximum distance that the APM will go to before returning?
"Graham said it and I agree, correctly configured and with enough reserve power on board it will fly thousands of miles to a waypoint and return safely to the launch location if programed to do so. That is, of course, assuming enough reserve power on…"
Jan 25, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Shyam Balasubramanian's discussion Using Camera wipes out GPS signal entirely (Confirmed)
"Hi Shyam, I have a post in another thread where I make a reference to this exact problem. My particular camera is the one I use for FPV and is a SecurityCamera2000 PZ042 board cam that has been put into a metal case also sold by SecCam2000. The cam…"
Jan 22, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Euan Ramsay's discussion Compass is 15' off = yaw?
"That steel screw attaching the Mag to the GPS is probably the source of the problem. See if you can find a fastener made from nylon, aluminum, titanium etc. Some stainless is non-magnetic but not all stainless is. Any ferrous metals near the…"
Jan 21, 2014
Butch Lucas replied to Frank W Sailler's discussion Blitz Super Sky Surfer 2.4 mm
"They are great FPV platforms. Be very careful of how fast you fly though, they develop control surface flutter and when the control surface is deflected fully, the corresponding wing tip or the horizontal stab can flex the opposite direction causing…"
Jan 13, 2014
More…