did 'YOU' fly today??

[Hands0n]

It is difficult to judge - the area is quite hilly around the river.  I';d guess on that being a couple of hundred feet up, maybe.   It looks extremely windy also, judging by the horizon.

[kilby]

Apologies  for dredging up an old post (still catching up on six months worth of forum activity!), but - what height do you reckon he was when he started his free-fall?

Actually it';s a quite interesting question as it shows how much wind resistance there is on a QX350.

Using straight maths and ignoring air resistance d = 0.5 * gravity * time^2 we would get a huge distance

12 second fall = 705.6 metres
14 second fall = 960.4 metres

So I would suspect that the shape of an upturned QX350 is slowing it down a hell of a lot.

Sorry I';m obviously bored

[John A]

I flew today. Maiden and two follow-up flights. I have to fit the video camera and do a little more tuning but she seems good so far. All flight modes selectable, fail-safes set (switch and TX fail). Flight camera, mini iOSD and VTX good. JR MacGregor telemetry up and running. Made a special day even better (55 candles on the cake) Sorry, was single-handed so no flying pics and no video yet.

[kilby]

Yes I flew for 6 minutes then my new Teslaquad flew away (and was lost)

Had just tweaked angle/horizon mode it was flying nicely then when it was about 50 feet away it started to gain height and head away from me.

Lowered the throttle and it continued to climb, tried to turn it and it was a bit apathetic.

Cut the throttle and it headed off towards the sea.

Searching resulted getting hung up on barbed wire, chased by a bull, sinking into 18 inches of mud and was topped off with my first asthma attack in 7 years (and my inhaler was sitting over in the flying area)

[teslahed]

Very sorry to hear that Kilby. I';ve never had a teslaquad flyaway myself. Not having GPS or waypoints on the thing limits the possibilities of a true ';flyaway'; incident quite a bit.

I';m guess the radio locked up somehow auto-level was on and enough throttle set to climb - and that was the last instruction it received. So it will have just kept climbing away.

I managed a quick line of sight flight today;

http://youtu.be/Tz7lV_IB_V4

[Hands0n]

Sorry to read your bad news Kilby - thats a rotten thing to happen, and powerless to stop it!

Hope the experience doesn';t put you off getting back in the saddle.

What radio gear was you using?  Could it have been simply getting out of range for some reason?

[John A]

Commiserations on the loss Kilby, really hate to hear when it happens. hope to see you in the air again soon.

[QuadBod]

Actually it';s a quite interesting question as it shows how much wind resistance there is on a QX350.

That';s what I thought - I timed it at over 16s, which puts it at a crazy height when calculated with no wind-resistance, so I could only assume (especially as it doesn';t seem to hit that hard) that the frame slows it down some.

Wide-angle cameras make the video look deceptively high, but even so, it must have been pushing the limits.

What struck me though was that, as a former detractor of parachutes, how much time there would have been to deploy in this case.

[kilby]

Thanks folks rx and tx info in a separate thread.

This thread should be for those folks who have enjoyed themselves and not me whinging

[Gav]

I flew today. Maiden and two follow-up flights. Made a special day even better (55 candles on the cake) Sorry, was single-handed so no flying pics and no video yet.

Nice one matey and a belated Happy Birthday

[Gav]

Flew my acro quad in the Newforest while taking the dog for a walk late this avo.  4 x 5 min flights and oh wow loving the crius AIOP V2 now I';ve dialled it in a bit better.  Managing 6 continuous rolls before hitting the deck.... Higher next time.. Will cobble a vid from the Mobius cam tomorrow.   

[Gav]

Met Tony at the local park where model leccy flight is permitted.   Nice fpv session with the basic mini quad. 
Had a couple of close encounters though lol with Tony taking evasive action on the controls and a roll to avoid collision hehehe

[tony]

nice pics m8     wish i had my camera as well 

still good after noon i love larking about  it was a nice after noon flying

   dose any no of any really bright LED as kept on trying to follow each other and kept losing sight maybe some good super bright led lights may help

[Hands0n]

Tony - have a look on eBay for 5050 LED strips - they come in something like 5M for £14 and are quite bright and large.

You can also get high intensity LED 12v lights on eBay, not only for RC models.  They can be adapted to fit.

Otherwise look up LED Strobe - there is a selection here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=LED+strobe&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XLED+strobe+rc&_nkw=LED+strobe+rc&_sacat=0

[tupoar]

Also, take a look at these.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=28708

I have a set. You get 2 white strobes which seem quite bright. The slow flashing reds are quite cool too.

[JerryCampbell]

It was a beautiful day in the northwest of the US of A on this the first day of summer.
I did a little gardening and then,
I flew my Turnigy Talon V2 cut down to a 330 with a Crius AIOP V2. A little screamer.
I flew my F450 with a Rabbit V1
I flew my HK Alien 560 with an APM 2.6
I flew a little quad of a friend that was a little over an inch wide, amazing,
I flew my 30" Wing
An excellent day

[Oakie]

Hi

I did fly, what a super day it was here in sunny buckinghamshire. I ended up however replaicing the 3.3volt regulater in my other board, apm 2.5.2., same errors as the first board same problems. so out with meter to find 3.3volts on i2c rail. Oh its not that then. Long and tall of it, Cald not solve problem. as I had nothing to loose, i replaiced the 3.3v reg anyway, like magic all works fine again! not a great builder of confidence re automation. ( failing under load maybe)

Anyway i promised my self i would get the hex 800mm centres done and i did, auto tune was a great success, and the quad with the replaced reg also had a nice flight.

Am starting to prepair fpv to go in the tesla min H.....

[fruitsalad]

NO---not yet,but im just about too..
maiden eagletree vector on hoverthings flip..

[Hands0n]

NO---not yet,but im just about too..
maiden eagletree vector on hoverthings flip..

Oooooooooohhhh *screem* ... how very exciting to see a new FC up and about.  Looking forward to reading all about it 

[Gav]

You fitted that quick, fruity lol

[fruitsalad]

did have it planned for yesterday,but a few teething prob..
itching to get out........

[Hands0n]

I don';t reckon he slept since it arrived ... 

[Hands0n]

So today I went out with the TBS Discovery and the Hammer MHQ.   It is a blisteringly warm and sunny day here in Kent, with a strong breeze that made flight a bit challenging at times. Nothing too much though.

First up the Discovery. Sporting lovely balanced carbon fibre props I had several really great flights, first one LOS and three more in FPV. Checked out the mag and GPS using Loiter and RTL that worked flawlessly.  Also got buzzed by a small flock of Swallows - they seemed curious about this big black thing invading their space and came to take a look.  I held position and let them do their thing - it is their environment after all.  They got scarily close in my opinion but no doubt they were totally in control of the situation.

I popped in the next LiPo for one more flight, started to lift off in FPV and the Disco flipped.  The rear right prop had sheared one of its blades and it was game over.  No other damage done as it had not attained any altitude at all.  I do not know why the prop sheared - it was either poorly manufactured or I have overtightened the prop nut.   I can';t tell by looking though.

Next up then was the Hammer MHQ and much fun was had with that. Again the Swallows came to visit this strange screaming creature in their skies. I tried to outpace them, the Hammer is blisteringly fast, but the Swallows kept up with consummate ease.  They only left me as I dropped altitude sharply when moving the pitch stick further than I';d planned to ::)  Easily recovered but "exciting" nonetheless.

Five LiPo used up with the Hammer, including one demo FPV flight for a young couple and their son who took an interest. They really wanted to see the Disco fly but I didn';t have any spare props with me, so that didn';t happen.

It was a great couple of hours flying, I';m covered in dust from the prop wash when landing and taking off, as is everything I took with me.

Later I will replace the broken prop.

[kilby]

One flight today and spent most of it terrorising dandelions at high speed, after that the wind got too much and I retired to watch the fixed wing members.

Theyt gave up soon after and some kites where pullled out to salvage the day.

[guest325]

Had a go at flying my Simplecopter T copter on kk2 1.6++ firmware in acro mode     
scared me sh1tless, ended up with 2 broken props and 2 cable ties; it';s a testament the design that that';s all that got broken, my quad would have been wrecked!!!
It';s a feisty beast with wild yaw - needs some expo and lower rates on my tx I think! That said I absolutely love it, it';s so simple but works so well!

[Cockney Boy]

Just got back from an evening flight, perfect weather, no wind apart from this guy that wouldn';t stop talking !!!!

[fruitsalad]

maidened vector,very impressed with it.
needs a little fine tuning,small oscillations.
rth work a treat,used 2d mode with hold,loiter,polar mode,rth...
still a few modes to figure out what they are.
screen info very good,

[Trev2971]

yep flew my mini during our BBQ ... got 8 mins out of a pack of mainly hovering :)

[robshaw]

After finally getting somewhere with my disco and ezuhf setup (several emergency deliveries to the camping field I';m holidaying at which turned out to be not needed, another story) I flew over the Fowey estuary from the comfort of the chair outside my tent. Was awesome. Videos to follow once I return from my holiday.

[Chippercheese]

I had a wee fly yesterday

http://youtu.be/jMgGSWZR-1w

Managed to fly the discovery 1km away before my nerves kicked in