I was testing my Maja in full manual mode this afternoon, an eagle come and join the fun of it. We flew a few round together before I realise that it actually come to defends it's airspace. A few attempt to close in with the plane and lower it's craw ready for a catch. Lucky it didn't success and I have power reserved to escape from situation.
MY Maja 2.2 M was build as per instruction with some reinforcement. AUW is 2.8kg. A 3S 2200 battery was put in front as ballast. CG set at 75 cm from leading edge. Currently just basic RC gear without FPV equipment and telemetry. For aerial mapping purpose, I'll expect the AUW to be 3 to 3.1 KG.
Using the Motor and ESC supplied with the kit spinning a 12 x 6 propeller, it had lot of power for easy hand lunch. I did not experience any pitch down problem during hand lunch as reported by some pilot. Just a gentle toss and it is up on its way. By the way, my battery is 4S 5000 mah.
The current configuration make the plane feel stable in roll axis but sensitive in pitch. Initially I had some difficulty to handle it because it'll pitch up quite severely and slow the plane down during level out from a turn or facing some head wind. A lot of us just can't feel comfortable to push down elevator for normal flight.
The plane glide well but keep an eye on the airspeed because of the pitch up problem. down elevator is needed to maintain safe landing speed.
I think APM will smooth out the pitch up issue. Will try it when the casing I order from 3DR shop come.
Comments
Thank you very much to share the knowledge. I'll try this trick next time. Yes, eagle is protected in our country and we don't want to hurt them in any way.
Keeyen, a trick we've learned on our slope site when eagles and hawks try to attack our gliders is to roll inverted for several seconds. The birds know they can't do that and usually leave the scene "defeated". You can not outrun an eagle. In a dive they can fly much faster that your drone can which is how they nearly always attach. Rolling inverted doesn't cause any contact or injury to the bird (which is illeagle most places) and saves your airplane.
I fly for about 25 minutes and put back 2500+ mah. I think 30 minutes should be no problem.
What is your flight time with that battery ?
Tommy