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Hey all,

With the recent comments on the latest arducopter build and some hesitation to upgrade, I decided to head out and put it through its' paces.  Or in layman's speak, thrash the quad and see what happens.  The day was beautiful and sunny, with a moderate breeze of 30km/h.

I flipped through stabilise, altitude hold and loiter with no problems.  Handling was a dream, super responsive and agile.

So a massive thank you to the devs again for the work they're doing.

HOWEVER...

From a flight planning / safety point of view, I have two flight timers (one set to 10 minutes from battery connect and one set to 10 minutes from power up) and a battery alarm.  For this flight, the timers were set, but I DIDN'T attach the battery alarm as I thought it would only be a shortish flight.  Up and down in under 10 minutes.  Ironically, this is exactly what happened, but not entirely of my control.  The total flight time was 9:30 minutes and ended up browning out and landing rather spectacularly.

This was the first incident after probably 15 or so successful flights and the only thing that needed replacing, was one prop.  When you see the video, you'll understand that's a remarkable achievement. The cause of the flight was really simple - I was going very hard in and against the wind, so more power was drawn.  In other words, pilot enthusiasm or error.  We'll work that one out over a drink.

Due to this, the pre-flight checklist has changed to include ALL safety mechanisms and get my spotter (if available) to double check.

I hope you enjoy the video and please learn from others mistakes and remember to fly safe.

Cheers,
David.