Balloon backup for flights over people?

[GMack]

Watching the movie "The Great Race," Professor Fate and Max used a balloon with a prop on a bicycle for spying on the Great Leslie from above.

From my old physics math I know one liter of helium lifts one gram. So a P4 weighs in at 1,380 grams. There are a lot of 60" balloons out there for about $17 ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007OK1BMK?psc=1 ) so by my questionable AM math skills, it would take about a 54-55 inch diameter helium balloon to lift a P4. Bit less for negative buoyancy to float it safely down to earth.

If the P4 had an eyelet in the middle of the top, then one might devise a means to keep the P4 "FAA approved" for flights over people with a balloon attached there via a cable and also keeping cops from claiming "It was unsafe to do so" and leading to an arrest with that Trump overhead flyer. Don't know about the flight characteristics though (Slower).

Just my AM notes to self....

 

[skyacramer]

Interesting


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[JohnnyB]

Does your PM notes consider the tilt of the phantom + drag of the balloon = string tangled in props? Just sayin

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[GMack]

Does your PM notes consider the tilt of the phantom + drag of the balloon = string tangled in props? Just sayin

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If the attaching 'plastic' eyelet (for the GPS antenna) were in the center top of the drone, maybe rigid and 3" tall, I doubt if there would be a tangle with the props. Drag could be an issue, but if you were doing a sporting event you might not need that much speed and movement, and just work the gimbal. Least if if fails, it won't knock someone out or kill them should it fall on them if the buoyancy were correct for it to float slowly down.

Even though a 60" balloon is cheap, the helium is around $130 for a 60 cu.ft tank and rental. It would take maybe 45 cu. ft. of that tank to try it. Sort of expensive, but likely the FAA would approve it for flying over people - maybe.

Madison Square Gardens is using a large balloon, maybe 8 feet in diameter, driven by 12 props inside their building. Might be more than one camera on it too.