Photo: Dan

Waiting. Waiting…

Where are those damn spare parts!
Another rebuild – A few weeks ago the quad developed an unhelpful habit of randomly losing power for no apparent reason. The last of 3 times it happened, it fell like a stone from about 60m and regained power at around 10m upside down, only adding to its downwards speed into the ground where it smashed itself to bits.
All props broken, all arms broken, and one esc blown.

Waiting. Waiting…
At work I daydream about flying maneuvers and scout endless locations to fly and film.
Finally the parts arrive and late night hours are spent between nappy changes and screwing parts back together.

6am setup in the park. Powered up and ready to fly. Gentle throttle up to test everything and out of nowhere a Jack Russell charges the quad growling and tries to clamp on to a prop. A squeal from the dog, a shout from the owner and 15 minutes later I am still receiving an angry lecture about illegally flying in the park. Bail out.

Another early morning. Another location. A quick scan for kamikaze pets and then goggles on. Lift off and finally flying again. Definitely some more tuning needed and a bit of vibration in the motors and FPV camera but some very fast flying in the trees, pushing the quad and my flying skills, and 5 batteries later it’s off to work with a massive grin.

A few days later and set up again. Take off fine but FPV transmission turns to a blizzard and then cuts out after 2 mins. Goggles are ripped off just in time to see quad in the distance at 90 degrees and descending rapidly. No chance of saving it.
3 arms broken, all four props snapped, and the antenna on the FPV system pinged off and disappeared.
Another rebuild and another splurge of internet ordering.

Ready to go again. Early mornings seem to work best for flying. Not many people around and low wind.
Down at the deserted beach and flying hard. Looping back towards where I’m sitting I see myself through the FPV camera and a figure standing quietly about 5 metres behind me watching the flight. Take the quad in for a closer look and he is wearing some kind of uniform. Put the quad down and take off my goggles expecting another lecture. Turns out to be a ranger but he just wants to ask questions about the quad. He is absolutely fascinated by it and keeps me talking for ages.
Finally sent him to Openpilot.org and he let me take off again.

Run ragged at work so its another week before a quick fly can be squeezed between baby responsibilities and relatives visiting. Set up in the last light of the day. Off and flying but the FPV camera is struggling with the low light. Mid barrel roll the focus goes completely. Goggles off and squinting to see which way round it is. Horrible landing but only 3 props broken as it cartwheels across the grass. Check of spare props box reveals 7 spare A props but only 1 B prop. How is that possible? Another online ordering binge and its back to the waiting game…

Photo: Ben

First impressions are that I definitely need to get working on some sort of image stabilisation system because that lens is a lot less forgiving than the stock Gopro wide angle when it comes to heavy handed piloting and smooth footage.

I have slowed the frame rate down from 60p to 23.98p to get it a little smoother.

The other obvious thing I am noticing is how slow the Gopro is to catch up when moving from highlight to shadow.

(continue reading…)