New parachute for Solo released from Parazero. From Ars Technica:
To ensure that the parachute deploys in time to prevent a crash at low altitudes, SafeAir shoots out the chute with a gust of pressurized gas. SafeAir attaches to the top of a drone and uses an independently powered chip to detect when the drone goes into freefall. According to a company spokesperson, SafeAir has worked with drone manufacturers to develop recovery systems for their drones based on how far it is safe for their drones to fall—including DJI (the makers of the popular Phantom consumer drone), professional photography drone maker 3D Robotics, and Martin Aviation—makers of the JetPack search and rescue small uncrewed aerial system (UAS).
Comments
I think an additional safety feature that would be nice is upon activation a circuit takes over and stops the motors cold.
A trick we use for rockets is a slightly larger parachute with a hole in the middle to prevent drifting very far in winds.
In slow motion on the video it looks OK :)
Or you could use the chute on the Solo, and use another drone to hold the gopro and follow it.
Solo is gonna bit a little bit heavy.
Parachute weight is 250g
Gimbal + Hero is 320g
Total: 570g
In Solo manual page 80 there is text: "Payload capacity: 1.1 lbs. (500 g)"
In Solo development guide there is text: "* The maximum payload of Solo with gimbal, camera and other accessories is 700g. Camera/Gimbal solutions that exceed the weight of the 3DR Gimbal and GoPro (390g) may not work with all accessories." (http://dev.3dr.com/hardware-gimbalbay.html)
Which is correct? What is the official Solo payload capacity?