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Trappy's NYC flight under FAA investigation

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 7, 2011 at 12:30pm

Gary at sUAS News reports:

"sUAS News recently asked FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Peggy Gilligan about the First Person View flight undertaken in New York by Austrian Raphael Pirker.

As Associate Administrator, Ms. Gilligan leads the organization responsible for setting, overseeing, and enforcing safety standards for all parts of the aviation industry – airlines, manufacturers, repair stations, pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers, and any person or product that operates in aviation. These programs have a direct impact on every facet of domestic and international civil aviation safety.

We are very grateful that Ms Gilligan took the time to answer, heres what she said.

“This event remains under investigation by FAA as well as by some law enforcement organizations in the NYC area.  We do intend to notify the operator of the investigation — although I understand he is not a US citizen and we believe he is not in the US”

It will be interesting to see which particular rules may or may not have been broken during Trappys flight."

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Comments

  • john bero February 9, 2011 at 4:28pm

    And worth more at the end.

  • john bero February 9, 2011 at 4:17pm
    Sadly, its comming.
  • Ritchie February 9, 2011 at 2:40pm
    Holy smeg that a prop and a half (x2) :D
  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 12:41pm

    I've got a Kontronik 600 with a 1:6.7 gear reduction running on 5S 2200mAh with a 18x11 (soon 18x13) prop on a Supra-E TD F5J glider

    link: http://www.kennedycomposites.com/suprae.htm

    I did some math, I could do 7h on a (very) good day :)

  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 12:15pm
    kV isn't *THAT* important. it's the RPM that needs to be low. So high kV with a geardrive can be quite efficient.
  • Ritchie February 9, 2011 at 12:13pm
    High kV?
  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 12:07pm

    I'm using 2x 6.6Ah. The best combination for endurance is a motor that will give you about 30 degrees climb at WOT (seriously underpowered) and an efficient airframe filled with as many batteries that requirement #1 is still met ;)

     

    ... or go completely the opposite direction (as I have): VERY efficient airframe, VERY high power / weight ratio (around 600W per kg) and only do an initial quick climb and then search for thermals :) Using 5S 2200mAh I can fly 4 hours and land with enough battery to do a few more high speed passes.

  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 11:35am

    Tom: at the risk of repeating myself => that part of the law does not apply to recreational sUAS.

    Duane, just give it a rest, I don't think he's trying to be funny, he's dead serious and there's no point arguing with people like that. thanks for your support in this, I think everyone else reading along has been given a very good introduction in what I've had to deal with over the past 3 months. Always the same bullshit, always the same accusations, and no matter how factual one tries to be, there's always some nitwit with the IQ of a doormat thinking he can hold lectures on a subject he has no clue about.

  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 11:21am
    Duane, I think he's pulling our leg :) nobody can be that stupid.
  • trappy February 9, 2011 at 10:43am
    Tom, by posting lies you are breaking laws. You have clearly broken laws. I don't need to show them as you have clearly broken them. This was my last post in this discussion, you are just too much.
This reply was deleted.