Recent content by ladykate

Yes. A very good technique. Here is a low resolution video and it was produced that way. P2 and Flame Wheel 550 were used. I fly very close to trees and other obstacles on a regular basis - still staying within the intent of the FAA rulings/druthers.

The FAA in their justification for the hobby drone ruling said that the expected life of any of the hobby rc drones or fixed wings is one year. I suspect there is a lot in play with that statistic but it does reveal a large turnover. I have two P2s that I bought when they first came out and...

Well... I finally was able to use the 450 to retrieve an airplane stuck in a tree. We had an audience and there were pictures taken but I don't have any in-hand right now. Worked as advertised - flew over the top, dropped the weighted string, pulled it down.

It is normal to bounce a little in heavy wind. I've flown in 35mph+ winds. Here is a video (in ATTI mode on a P2). While it isn't GPS stabilized, it is fairly solid until I get down in the trees where it is quite turbulent. In GPS mode it will bounce around a little but you don't have to...

Absolutely. You won't hear another peep about it.

See: Academy of Model Aeronautics - Government Relations There has been a lot of confusion about this. Don't know if this completely clears it up but it does help. 400'+ ops are allowed under special circumstances (LOS, spotter, no obvious dangers to structures or aircraft).

That is a big battery and you probably are about right on the times you are getting. I get 9-10 minutes on a 5000mah 3s with my 550. Some have tweaked them to get much more. A 4S 8000 (especially a Zippy which tends to be a tad heavier) is a pretty big weight.

I fly them a lot - pretty much gotten away from the Phantoms except for specific AP jobs. The small ones are much more fun. Crashing is a given. You will hit hard many times. I've broken arms, motors, many (many) props. Start in acc mode (different names for it but whatever the acc mode is...

Yes... even 'intermediate' timers do this. Don't fly where you would want to hide if it crashed. If you lose one, and it will happen if you fly long enough, then hope someone finds it and contacts you. I've never lost a Phantom but I've lost one fixed wing (since found in a mud pit after the...

I think experience is the key. Fly within your capability (pretty much a +1 from a previous post). I either learned how to fly in the wind or I stayed home. There are few calm days around here. You just have to know how to work with it and that comes with practice. Obviously, don't fly down...

Yes, I have two Phantoms (because I destroyed one in an epic crash - got another - then rebuilt the first one). The Flamewheels and Phantoms are two different machines but you can build an F450 to mimic a lot of the Phantom capability. But that isn't what I wanted the F450 to do. I wanted it...

I've done a bit of testing - and it would only apply to me - but VLOS (the important part) for me is 280 meters with a Phantom on a clear day in sunlight. I just can't see it much farther. If I knew someone was watching, I would probably fly well within that. ;-}

Hi - good luck with your build. The F450 is a solid platform and can carry any number of goodies. Mine is meant to recover stranded aircraft from trees by dropping a line over them. Here is a short video showing the quad - haven't had to use it yet but will post videos when I do.

Over and above the chatter about whether you should talk to the tower with a radio when flying your quad - which would not really happen legally with the current structure - the main goal (I thought) was how you notified the airport. If it is a one-off situation, then you call. We have a fixed...

Just a quick update. The first maiden outside and the airframe vibrated badly. I double checked the recommended gains from several posts and then went to the DJI manual. The gains for the new ESCs are less than half the gains for normal ESCs. 40 percent for basic gains - not upwards of 150...