Dropping a glider plane from my drone - 1st attempt

[Corey Tucker]

I finally got my drop kit so my first test was to drop one of those glider planes from it. I started by dropping it at 100 feet and it did what it was supposed to do except the glider didn't have enough room to actually glide so it just hit the ground. also realized I needed a longer string cuz the jet wash was kicking it around too much.

next I took it up to 1000 feet, but then the stupid drop kit didn't release it! I finally started to bring it down, but you can see how the wind was whipping it around. It finally broke free from the fishing line I used, but I didn't know that at the time. So as I started trying to fly after the plane, the fishing line got caught up in my props. I still don't know how it didn't crash when that happened! I couldn't even tell anything had gone wrong.

Anyway, I couldn't ever find the plane with my tablet, so next time I will use the goggles I got and maybe I can see better. Watching the video back, I did see it flying away at one point - looks like a couple of miles away.

I bought a few of these gliders, so will try this again when it's not so windy. This time I will take it up to max height and will put it in stunt mode so the plane does flips and doesn't just glide away so fast. That way maybe I can find it and film it flying in the air better.

For those that are interested, I don't recommend the drop kit. It seems pretty cheap and didn't release when I really needed it to. Hoping it will work better next time or it will probably end up crashing my drone. Just have to make sure I'm not flying over anyone. lol

At the end of the video, you can see what happened when the line got in the props. pretty crazy!!

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[coopercobra03]

Wow you got lucky on that one...

 

[DirtyHarry]

pretty cool, definitely lucky, although kind of funny to watch the first one just drop and shatter... wish there was a way to follow it after it finally dropped off !

 

[BigAl07]

Corey I can't believe in today's time with all the problems our industry has you have the audacity to go up to those heights and to post about it on the forum. You should know better by now.

 

[Corey Tucker]

It's ok there was a cell tower within 400ft of me, so I could go up as high as that plus 400 feet (according to new rule).

Thanks DirtyHarry, next time I am going to flip the tail part of it. Doing that makes it do a bunch of flips instead of just gliding off real fast, so hoping I can film more of it like that since it will be staying more in the same spot.

 

[Sagebrush]

Corey: In the general aviation world, there's a saying. "There are no old bold pilots." It may be a good thing you aren't working on

It's ok there was a cell tower within 400ft of me, so I could go up as high as that plus 400 feet (according to new rule).

Thanks DirtyHarry, next time I am going to flip the tail part of it. Doing that makes it do a bunch of flips instead of just gliding off real fast, so hoping I can film more of it like that since it will be staying more in the same spot.

That so-called new rules goes into affect August 26th and are for those that have obtained an sUAV operator's license and are operating the vehicle to inspect a building that is greater than 400'.

In the general aviation community there is a saying. "There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots." Just young ones.

Good luck amigo,

SB

 

[BigAl07]

It's ok there was a cell tower within 400ft of me, so I could go up as high as that plus 400 feet (according to new rule).

You can't go back and "tweak" the rules to make them work in your favor Corey-san. It doesn't work like that.

So how do you explain 1,000' (400 + 400 = 800) and then going to MAX altitude on your next attempt? Reckless? Yes I'd say so. I just hope you don't cause an incident and bring any more negative publicity to our hobby. Some of us have a lot invested time and money wise.

 

[Corey Tucker]

So how do you explain 1,000' (400 + 400 = 800) and then going to MAX altitude on your next attempt?

The rule is that you can go as high as any nearby structure, but then 400ft higher than that. So if cell tower is 600ft in the air, I can go 400ft more which is 1000ft. So when I said I was going max height next time, let me explain. In a video I posted on here a while back, I flew over a smoke stack. well one of them. The other was at least 1000ft, probably higher. I didn't make it to the top cuz my battery got low. But if I go back there and fly within 400ft of that, I can go up to as high as that and then 400ft higher.

And I disagree that this rule is only for registered pilots. I think FAA has to make rules for them first since those groups are out making money - so rules are needed for lawsuits. I just don't think FAA has had time to figure out what rules are for casual flyers. But the rule is just common sense - if planes aren't going to be around structures, then why can't I fly there, but someone who has paid the FAA money can? It's not about safety - it's about money.

 

[Corey Tucker]

I just hope you don't cause an incident and bring any more negative publicity to our hobby.

and no, i'm not trying to bring negative attention FYI, that's why i didn'tdo it in the city around people. if you can tell in the video, i drove out in the middle of nowhere and found a house for sale with a big yard, so i filmed it there. that way a bunch of people wouldn't get suspsicious of a big plane going up in the air. lol

 

[BigAl07]

The rule is that you can go as high as any nearby structure, but then 400ft higher than that. So if cell tower is 600ft in the air, I can go 400ft more which is 1000ft. So when I said I was going max height next time, let me explain. In a video I posted on here a while back, I flew over a smoke stack. well one of them. The other was at least 1000ft, probably higher. I didn't make it to the top cuz my battery got low. But if I go back there and fly within 400ft of that, I can go up to as high as that and then 400ft higher.

And I disagree that this rule is only for registered pilots. I think FAA has to make rules for them first since those groups are out making money - so rules are needed for lawsuits. I just don't think FAA has had time to figure out what rules are for casual flyers. But the rule is just common sense - if planes aren't going to be around structures, then why can't I fly there, but someone who has paid the FAA money can? It's not about safety - it's about money.

You really don't understand or haven't spent the time to research WHY hobby aircraft don't have the same restrictions as commercial operations. Let me feed that bit to you:

The AMA has been a HUGE advocate for protecting "hobby" flights in the US. They have invested hundreds of thousands (or more) dollars to lobby on behalf of hobby/recreational flyers across the country. The writing was on the wall that new FAA regulations were being created and the AMA worked hard (aka lobby $$) to make it to where these new regulations (aka laws) would affect the hobby flyers as little as possible. In 2012 Congress mandated that the FAA could make no new regulations/laws specifically against Hobby/Recreational flights. So long as those flyers followed "community based guidelines" and did not pose any threat to the safety of John Q. Public and the National Airspace System no "new" regulations could be imposed upon them.

Of course Congress and the FAA had no idea how much things were going to change in just a matter of a few months with new micro GPS, sophisticated micro gyros, and new on-board automated flight controllers. These new innovations allowed hobby/recreational pilots to break away from the confines on a traditional "flying field" and also get away from the need to "learn to fly". See before these new innovations we would spend hours and hours with an instructor learning to fly because the simple fact was if you didn't know how to fly the aircraft was going to reunite with terra firma in a quick and harsh kind of way. Instead of knowing at least basic flying skills the new UAS operator merely needs to know how to insert the battery, connect the tablet, hit a couple of power buttons and hit the "LAUNCH" button on the ipad. If something goes wrong (disoriented, loss of visual of AC etc) the operator simple relaxes the controls and the UAS will stop, hover, and wait for new commands. Also no more need to fly at the flying field because now the world is our flying field even if that's over the heads of 10,000 people.

So you see instead of it being about the almighty dollar it's about the fact that the AMA spent time and $$ to help enact some preemptive "safety measures" to protect the hobby/recreational flyers. I can almost 100% guarantee you right now that if the FAA could have written stricter rules for hobby/recreational flyers it would have done so from the very beginning. You see, it's basic mathematics... the largest percentage of UAS operators are hobby/recreational (by FAR) so that's where the most liability is. Also it's fairly easy to demonstrate that a "real" business has a lot more $$ invested and for the most part will operate much safer and take fewer chances because if they crash it could stop their paychecks from coming in as opposed to just hurt feelings and no more flying around the park.

In regards to your glider... if you'll spend some time tweaking it you can trim it to fly somewhat flat/level but while also making a gentle slight turn. Once released it would fly in a slow gentle turn making wide sweeping circles until it was changed by a wind gust (it would still continue the circle but the path/direction might slightly alter) or until it landed. This type of flight would be much more eye pleasing and make a better video than the plane simply doing loop after loop after loop. We used to launch the 5' Styrofoam gliders from our giant "Bat Kite" roughly 500' in the air but we had no way to get pictures/video of it. We just sat there and oohed ahhed until it was time to run catch it and start all over again. We always put our name and # on it because you lost about 1 in 5 and we ended up getting a couple of them back. That was probably 35 or so years ago now LOL.

 

[strgazr27]

Looking at the video it wasn't exactly the middle of nowhere. Those gliders fly best when released slightly nose up and level. As it's been said they can be trimmed to fly in gentle descending loops.
But I do have an issue with this as its "stunts" like this that attract negative publicity to a hobby that certainly doesn't need it. It may have been a rare off chance but suppose the glider struck a house window? Or perhaps a car on one of the roads? Keep it to extremely desolate areas.
Oh and spend some time actually reading the entire drone rules. Not just glancing at them and then applying an interpretation of them.



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[Corey Tucker]

In regards to your glider... if you'll spend some time tweaking it you can trim it to fly somewhat flat/level but while also making a gentle slight turn. Once released it would fly in a slow gentle turn making wide sweeping circles until it was changed by a wind gust (it would still continue the circle but the path/direction might slightly alter) or until it landed. This type of flight would be much more eye pleasing and make a better video than the plane simply doing loop after loop after loop. We used to launch the 5' Styrofoam gliders from our giant "Bat Kite" roughly 500' in the air but we had no way to get pictures/video of it. We just sat there and oohed ahhed until it was time to run catch it and start all over again. We always put our name and # on it because you lost about 1 in 5 and we ended up getting a couple of them back. That was probably 35 or so years ago now LOL.

Good suggestion i will try that. I def would like to get it flying through the air, but found out that thing moves a lot faster than i was expecting! I bought a few cuz i wasn't expecting to get any back. But might have a chance if it stays in a general circle area.

thanks for the help!

 

[BigAl07]

Good suggestion i will try that. I def would like to get it flying through the air, but found out that thing moves a lot faster than i was expecting! I bought a few cuz i wasn't expecting to get any back. But might have a chance if it stays in a general circle area.

thanks for the help!

Through trial & error (on the ground tossing it) you'll find that sweet spot that gives it smooth forward flight with minimal altitude loss yet not "porpoising". Once you get that dialed in you can "tweak" the rudder to give it that large gentle turn. Also when you add the turn you may need to add a very small amount of Up elevator to compensate for the turn. I'd say in 15 min you could have it dialed in. Once you get it how you like it I use a marker to indicate where the elevator/horiz stabilizer it so I can replicate the same position post accident lol.

 

[dgd3]

Tow up from the front of the glider. Takes longer to get to nose down and it will start to fly earlier. Plus it might be more stable on the pull-up.

Been toying with the idea of making a drop kit from a mechanical windup egg timer. As the winder ticks back to zero it slowly opens a latch. Just not the greatest predictable timing though.
There is probably some perfectly designed thing in the RC hobby builder world.

 

[strgazr27]

A servo with a smooth arm mounted to the craft would be perfect. Arm in the up position to hold strong with loop. Trigger it down to release. Basically on the style of the retractable landing gear


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[sonof40]

Looking forward to your next project Corey. Learn but stay encouraged.

 

[PinnacleRun]

and no, i'm not trying to bring negative attention FYI, that's why i didn'tdo it in the city around people. if you can tell in the video, i drove out in the middle of nowhere and found a house for sale with a big yard, so i filmed it there. that way a bunch of people wouldn't get suspsicious of a big plane going up in the air. lol

So Corey- you were trespassing on private property to launch your phantom?? Be careful please


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