Quadcopter as launch pad for rocket

Perhaps I am a rocket nerd, but that was MORE than cool. I will be trying that very soon!!!!
 
It would have been cooler if they'd launched the quad from a radio controlled submarine and then used another quad to recover the rocket.
 
There's been a lot of discussion about that video among rocketry hobbyists. The reaction most have to it is generally the same as I had.

Seeing the description of the video (and the handle of the user who posted it), I expected to see another of those "someone does something stupid with a rocket" video. I was ready to be upset at the video and the person who made it.

Then I watched it and decided that it's really cool!

The launch appears to have been done safely. The rocket is launched electrically, using a launch guide, and vertically. There's no obvious conflict with the Model Rocket Safety Code. The flier built the quadcopter and designed it to server as a rocket launch platform. You can read about the project at:

http://flitetest.com/articles/rocket-la ... ?preview=1

-- Roger
 
Cool idea ..... but seems a waste to have it strapped to big quad but to then just launch couple feet off the ground .... should have screamed it up to max altitude then let it rip !! .... all in approved guidelines and rules of course :twisted:
 
GMANNZ said:
Cool idea ..... but seems a waste to have it strapped to big quad but to then just launch couple feet off the ground .... should have screamed it up to max altitude then let it rip !! .... all in approved guidelines and rules of course :twisted:

Using a helicopter to increase the rocket's altitude isn't going to be as effective or efficient as simply adding an additional stage to the rocket. And, launching from higher up would not have been as interesting because the flier (and the ground-based video) would not have been able to see the lift-off.

There doesn't seem to be a practical use to having a hovering launch pad. But, we engage in hobbies for the fun of it, not for practical reasons. Sometimes we make things more difficult just to challenge ourselves and just for the fun of it.

-- Roger
 
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I was heavily in to model rocketry for a while in my teens, and I certainly get the attraction to it in general, I just don't know if these are two hobbies I'd ever try to mix. It's cool as a proof of concept, but I doubt I'd ever try it under any conditions...with my luck the uav would take an unexpected dip at the wrong second (gust of wind, loosing a prop, whatever) and send the rocket off on some freak trajectory.
 
I am a serious pyro (I'm licensed and shoot large shows, I also build using proper procedures and permits). Many pyros think that video is cool but almost everyone thinks the video shows a dubious use of both hobbies. Right now we are worried about oversight by the different government acronyms. Actively practicing using a quad as a launch platform raises eyebrows. The FAA is already paranoid about RC aircraft and the presence of dignitaries. NOTAMS are issued for RC groups when important people are nearby. I guess I'm saying I don't think it is a good idea and proves little.
 
ladykate said:
Actively practicing using a quad as a launch platform raises eyebrows.

I doubt it.

Unfounded paranoia is too common. Almost every time someone does something new, the Chicken Littles start squawking.

Actually, hobbyists have been flying rocket-powered gliders for years, some with air-started motors. So, it's really not even a new thing.

-- Roger
 
jadebox said:
ladykate said:
Actively practicing using a quad as a launch platform raises eyebrows.

I doubt it.

Please don't. I talk with the ATF HQ on a regular basis as part of my day job (I'm a display and hobbyist pyrotechnician and President of the PGI). Private discussions have them worried about this (among a million other things). The FAA already releases NOTAMS when the Prez is going to be in an area (these to the RC groups - grounds them while he is in town). Not fiction or speculation at all.
 
ladykate said:
jadebox said:
ladykate said:
Actively practicing using a quad as a launch platform raises eyebrows.

I doubt it.

Please don't. I talk with the ATF HQ on a regular basis as part of my day job (I'm a display and hobbyist pyrotechnician and President of the PGI). Private discussions have them worried about this (among a million other things). The FAA already releases NOTAMS when the Prez is going to be in an area (these to the RC groups - grounds them while he is in town). Not fiction or speculation at all.

Ask the ATF about that van full of rocket motors. :)

They have real threats to worry about. Rental trucks and commercial airliners, after all, have proven to be greater threats than toy helicopters and cardboard rockets. There's nothing in that video to cause any alarm.

And the TFRs that you refer to apply to all aircraft. They aren't directed specifically at RC ones.

-- Roger
 
jadebox said:
Ask the ATF about that van full of rocket motors. :)

They have real threats to worry about. Rental trucks and commercial airliners,
And the TFRs that you refer to apply to all aircraft. They aren't directed specifically at RC ones.

The problem is that they focus on the problem they can affect (a particularly frustrating facet of government - make a law even if it won't solve the issue you are addressing). Banning exploding targets was one such proposal - that would put the focus on one pound mixes sold out of Cabelas and not on the rather substantial distribution of AN in other markets. They can affect the one pound sales but the metric ton sales are harder to corral so they ignore them.

RE: NOTAMs affect everyone including RC.

Yes.. that is the point. RC aircraft ARE affected - they are looking at them, too. Launching a rocket off a drone (not simply flying a rocket powered aircraft) essentially weaponizes a drone. Take a look at the FAA news... they are munching and pissing and moaning about every facet of hobby drones. They want to make a law/code/ruling and they will. Having someone shoot rockets from a flying drone is serving them with ammunition to make a stupid ruling.
 

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