Melbourne UAV is out of the Outback Challenge

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately down here in Melbourne Australia we have had a very wet winter, which has made it virtually impossible for us to fly our X8 UAV in preparation for the 2012 Outback UAV Challenge. We fly on a private farm about an hour from Melbourne which for months has had either had water laying on the ground or been too muddy to get our cars in.

What this means for us is we didn't get enough Autonomous hours logged for our Deliverable 3 to stay in the competition. It's disappointing because we were pretty confident that this was going to be the year! :) (Third time lucky and all)

The main purpose of this post was to say a big thanks to all our sponsors and people that have helped us along the way.

And a special big thanks to FPVFlying.com for their greatly appreciated support with the

Awesome X8 airframe. Please have a look at the link as it is a great airframe for UAV / FPV use!

We would also like to thank all the people that took the time to tweet and leave messages through

our website.

It's always amazed me how so many people have taken an interest in a few mates having fun just entering a competition.

Best of luck to all the teams that have put in the hard work to get there on the day and I'm guessing the ground will be littered with bottles around Joe this year! It's shaping up to be a great event!

Cheers,

Scott

Hi Guys,

I have to clarify that the decisions to pull out was completely ours and that the judges have gone out of their way to help us and all teams not only this year, but every year we have been involved in the competition.

I'm sure that if we approached them coming up to the D3 deadline the would have offered us options to stay involved. (due to our known UAV experience in the competition over the years)

The truth is that we would not have been well enough prepared for the competition (to our standards) to be 100% confident in our attempt.

We do not want to waist anybody's time (Judges, Event organisers and our own) by turning up 80% ready.

They don't call this competition a Challenge for nothing, it is really really hard and only those with countless hours of dedication to the event will have a chance of saving Joe.

I am going to miss the fun at the Caravan park and the awesome steaks at the Karalee! :)

You never know.........2014....Hmmmmmmm

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Comments

Andre K. August 31, 2012 at 12:08am

Regarding X8 you like, do you use a landing gear on it? It it even suitable for use with gear ? I it does not have rudder, that would make it difficult to do good landings during crosswind.
Moderator

Robert Krogh (hooks) August 16, 2012 at 11:28am

Duran DeV

You must be from SA. There are some big problems sending this bird to south Africa. Please try contact your Mail system with the tracking number provided from FPVflying.com. It might be stock in customs without any info to you.

Please send a mail to fpvflying a gmail com and I will solve this matter ASAP.
Scott James August 16, 2012 at 6:35am

Hi Jonas,

I did not know about that event.
Sound's interesting.....
Scott James August 16, 2012 at 6:32am

Hi Guys,

I have to clarify that the decisions to pull out was completely ours and that the judges have gone out of their way to help us and all teams not only this year, but every year we have been involved in the competition.

I'm sure that if we approached them coming up to the D3 deadline the would have offered us options to stay involved. (due to our known UAV experience in the competition over the years)

The truth is that we would not have been well enough prepared for the competition (to our standards) to be 100% confident in our attempt.

We do not want to waist anybody's time (Judges, Event organisers and our own) by turning up 80% ready.

They don't call this competition a Challenge for nothing, it is really really hard and only those with countless hours of dedication to the event will have a chance of saving Joe.

I am going to miss the fun at the Caravan park and the awesome steaks at the Karalee! :)

You never know.........2014....Hmmmmmmm
Not Sure August 16, 2012 at 5:15am

quote "are they the only guys being eliminated for not enough hours?or was it "the politics of committee' *( seen their rig crapped their drawers and got the team eliminated on a frivolous "technicality"?)"

What exactly are you trying to say in the above statement? I'm curious... especially when you don't sit on the committee or are involved in the organisation of the competition? The officals of the OBC have bent over backwards to help teams compete and go the extra mile towards promoting unmanned aviation operating alongside an open airstrip with manned traffic.

It's a pity Scott, I'll hopefully see you next time at Kingaroy, the past few years at the competition have been fun, especially at the old caravan park and karalee etc
Scott James August 15, 2012 at 6:49pm

Thanks for the kind words guys. We will be staying home this year as it's a long way to Kingaroy just to go and watch. Hopefully there will be a 2014 event but it is not confirmed. I would imagine that it would cost a fortune to hold the OBC and sponsorships are not easy to get.....

My biggest hot tip for the new teams still involved this year is make sure your data kinks can do at least 5 times the distance you need for the OBC as they don't call it the Kingaroy triangle for nothing! Ignore this if you are on 3G :) Cheers!
Developer

Andrew Tridgell August 15, 2012 at 4:24pm

Hi Carl,

I doubt the organisers will let non-competing teams fly. The time constraints for the competition are quite tight, and I think they will want all the time available for the competing teams.

Hopefully Scott will have better weather preparing for the 2014 competition! If someone does manage to 'rescue' Joe this year then it will be interesting to see if the competition is changed for next time.

Cheers, Tridge
Wanabigaplane August 15, 2012 at 4:22pm

What a shame.

Surely you have enough runs on the board with this and similar enough aircraft to enter your D3!

Still, we have found how difficult it all is. We have been flying in such winds and cold that Joe would not have got out of bed to go bushwalking in!

You definitely need more than one aircraft.

Will you be attending Kingaroy?

I would love to see the X8, and the set up you have developed.

Jack. CanberraUAV.
Carl La France August 15, 2012 at 3:36pm

Sad to hear you didn't make the competition the air craft certainly looks capable Is it possible they would let you fly any way? not for a trophy or such but just before or after the competition to see how you would have fared? and maby get some pointers for next time? Good luck
Wouter van Verre August 15, 2012 at 9:33am

Ow :( That's a real shame! Maybe you'll have better luck next year!

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