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The $30 Feigao motor we got in May 2009 finally dies when hitting a piece of wood, after already being on the ground. It was a FeiGao 5300kV 17g 141g thrust. Today, it's $34. Obviously, it's going to cost a lot of money to fly such a large aircraft in such a small space.

Really thought that motor would last forever & the very existence of the project seemed just to make use of it.

We did find the horizontal velocity wasn't being calculated in the previous flights. After fixing velocity, the vehicle showed signs of being able to stabilize horizontal motion, though not return to the target point. Altitude hold was still nowhere close.

There are 3 options:

1) Build a smaller aircraft, using a recycled toy motor.  It would use a smaller battery & new circuit board.  It would have a shorter flight time, not support lifting a POV attachment, & would be more expensive in the long term.  The 1st copy would be free & it would be easier to fly, indoors.  Replacing the motor & propeller would require buying complete toys, since those power systems are insanely expensive from plantraco.com.

2) Get an EDF for the current airframe.  It would potentially be crash proof & have faster throttle changes.  It would have shorter flight time & its resistance to crashes is unknown.

3) Get another Feigao & make it a pusher instead of a puller.  A pusher alone should eliminate shaft breakage, but have an unknown effect on propeller breakage.  Flying indoors would definitely continue to be virtually impossible.