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[Channelling our fearless T3 leader, Gary Mortimer] The quality of entries for the latest T3 round, "The Model" was nothing short of astounding.

 

It serves to underline just how far low cost autopilots and home made drones have come since the start of the competition in 2009. Back then returning without everything in a garbage bag was an achievement in itself. Telemetry radios were made of pure unobtainium and post-production consisted of lining images up by hand.

 

All the contestants have shown generosity and kindness fielding many, how did you do that?, questions and pointing folks the right way towards achieving similar results.

 

Truly the DIY Drones spirit.

 

All the entries are so good that It was difficult to choose a winner I decided to cast the net of judgement far from the trawler of destiny and seek the opinions of bigger fish. I also asked  the contestants that had just competed.

 

Interestingly it was an almost unanimous conclusion.

 

Thanks to the generosity of 3DR everybody that entered will be receiving  a T-shirt. The winner wins a full Pixhawk autopilot set.

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The winning entry was original, technical and told a story.

 

Well done Sylvain: The Fallen Blockhouse wins it. Shot with APM-powered ArduCopter quad, it generated 3D imagery that worked on every level. Here are some videos that show the basics, but please see the original post for the full epic details.

 

Everybody has put hundreds of hours of work into this T3 round a job well done.

 

I would be remiss not to mention another band of achievers which grows almost weekly now. I am speaking of the 100km club.

 

Its newest members, Graham Dyer and Joseph Aletky, joined it just today. There are now seven members of this exclusive group. I know of two people trying for 200km, this goal may be scored in the Northern hemisphere summer of 2014.

 

As ever a big thank you to everybody that joins in with the competition, it pushes the boundaries and improves our autopilots and work flows. You risk you equipment for the entire communities benefit playing at the cutting edge of UAS flight.