Italian Enthusiasm - Above the Clouds Drone

 

I want share with the community my last goal achieved with an old Multiplex Easycub , APM2, Arduplane 2.6.8, 3DR telemtry 900 mhz, Airspeed sensor and a still not working Attopilot 90A.
A great flight above the clouds after some unsuccessfull flights ( i have lost an easystar with gopro and APM2 still dont know why)
I still have to tune the Nav Roll P for better videos but i am sure you will like it.
Also if i never wrote on the forum it was very helpful for me and i am ready to share all my tests with other people who is starting with drones.

EDIT : add version without copyright limitations at http://youtu.be/-vgmtJER-SE

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  • I wasn't going to chime in here, the obvious fact is that there is a real and present danger and even if you had a 360 degree camera, you might not be able to get out of the way of something that didn't even see you.

    Additionally there is the problem that when you are above a cloud deck you have to get back down through it. In a real airplane you may have the option of finding a hole, but in a short range drone your probably going back down through it and unless your flying an instrument flight plan that is 10 kinds of a bad idea.

    The air is big and this is a single instance, but it won't be the last and sooner or later a really unpleasant incident is going to take place and then like gun control, it's all going to rain down on our heads with considerable unpleasantness.

  • Absolutely wonderful! I was watching with mouth open..beautiful images!!

    On a side note, I don't think the FAA is the issue here (Italy), but in time when more people put drones in the sky, the risk of real air collisions will increase... something to keep in the back of our minds. I think some rules will be needed in future.

  • I tend to agree with Oliver.  As this from a CASA bulletin (posted here in DIY Drones) says:

    http://www.suasnews.com/2013/01/20510/intruder-in-the-circuit/

    "The investigator says the story carries a strong safety message for all aircraft operators, manned or otherwise: safety starts before you take off.

    ‘When you operate a UAV you are flying an aircraft – the fact that you might have bought the airframe from a toy shop is neither here nor there’, he says. ‘You are entering the aviation industry and with that comes increased risk."

    I think that we have to start considering our drones as UAVs and aircraft if they can fly above the clouds.  If you cannot see and avoid then you should not really do it.

    It is only a matter of time with the explosion in FPV and hobby UAVs that there will be an incident.  I can see some pretty odious regulations coming out of an incident involving a fatality.

    From the first part of the article:

    Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect. So said Captain Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh in 1931

  • Great video.. bad music

  • Agreed

  • You can check all the normal flight paths, VFR & IFR traffic patterns, etc. and listen to Unicom etc. all you want but you still won't necessarily be aware of any number of aircraft flying in uncontrolled airspace that might be headed into your area, no matter how remote it is, at low altitudes and/or right on top of a cloud deck. Among others you might be surprised by medical and rescue helicopters, fire-suppression helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, military and police aircraft, helicopters engaged in or headed to work of some sort such as logging or crop-dusting, and of course the random Cessna 150 just paddling along to try to see grandma's house.

    So, there is certain and unavoidable risk involved in sticking anything up on top of a cloud deck where you can't "see and avoid." Now it becomes a simple game of odds. Assuming you've done your homework to eliminate any likely conflicts, what are the remaining odds that, say, a traffic accident or heart attack five miles down the road will result in a medical helicopter colliding with your pride and joy during the five minutes or so that you're blindly flapping around in its airspace? Or that you pop up out of the clouds right in front of a slightly lost F-16 on a low level training flight?  And so on. The odds are in fact hugely against anything like that happening. The sky is very big, your r/c aircraft is very small and in the air for only a very short time. But the odds while tiny are not zero, and the consequences of losing at this game are as great as the odds against it.

    Something further to consider is that it is not yourself you are placing at risk (however slight it may be), but others (pilots and their passengers) who have nothing to do with the game you're playing. Never mind the FAA or AMA or other rule-makers. Instead imagine asking a local medical helicopter pilot how he or she would view the concept that at any random moment a 10 pound (let's say) uncontrolled (in terms of being able to see/avoid) r/c aircraft might be operating above the clouds at a random spot in his response area. (I worked for decades, as a firefighter on the ground, with folks who do this dangerous work and I can pretty much predict that the response wouldn't be pretty or even polite.)The above is of course just another opinion, and is not intended to be judgmental or directed at anyone in particular. 

  • Love the video and thanks for sharing

  • @Jason Wise

    Thank you Jason, in case it there was a bit of sarcasm i'm with you but it's part of my enthusiasm when mounting the video :-)

    @Greg

    you're right, all the people at the fliying field was excited and everybody wanted a first row seat for the first view.

  • @CWVEGAS

    Thanks for your comment and for your hints.

    As i said some post ago i am also a Glider Pilot and i am with you all your remarks , in particular regarding the wheater conditions that for me are the eveeryday brekfast.

    I took some risk i know but i have considered a lot of scenarios and parameters before attempting.

  • Really beautiful video. Nice to see the galliant plane return to earth in good shape. You must have been thrilled on reviewing the gopro video for the first time.
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