Lessons Learned While Flying My Elev-8 Autonomously
I built an Elev-8 V2 quadcopter with a 3DR APM2.6 flight controller/autopilot, which gives me the ability to takeoff, fly and land, all under autopilot control. I've learned a couple of hard lessons along the way that I thought I'd share:
1. In Return To Launch (RTL) mode, adjust your descent speed so that it is gradual, say 30 cm/sec in order to minimize turbulence caused by descending through your propwash.
2. Always be cognizant of obstructions, particularly their height! Sounds obvious, but don't ASSume that you're high enough to avoid tall trees, for example! Establish a minimum safe altitude.
3. If you change the nature of a waypoint, such as making it a "spline" waypt, be aware of how the flight path is altered.
Here is my sad story: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GYaiXOEngHw
1. In Return To Launch (RTL) mode, adjust your descent speed so that it is gradual, say 30 cm/sec in order to minimize turbulence caused by descending through your propwash.
2. Always be cognizant of obstructions, particularly their height! Sounds obvious, but don't ASSume that you're high enough to avoid tall trees, for example! Establish a minimum safe altitude.
3. If you change the nature of a waypoint, such as making it a "spline" waypt, be aware of how the flight path is altered.
Here is my sad story: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GYaiXOEngHw
Comments
Hope it was retrievable.
It was retrievable. I had a small stepladder and a long retractable pole with a cutting tool (for trimming branches) on the end. I could barely reach it - the video camera was still running and the resulting video looked like a wired mechanical bird was attacking it! The quad fell about 20 feet and it landed on one of the motors which got buried in mud (it had rained recently).
I will have to replace all four motors, the GPS mast and the APM vibration dampener and propellers. Also, I've decided to upgrade my other Elev-8 quad by replacing it's Hoverfly controller with an APM - that will require disassembling the aircraft, re-arranging the ESC's and the booms (APM assumes a different motor ordering and I've marked the ESC's and motors as well as their spin directions. I also have to replace one motor (bad bearings), splice an APM power module in the power distribution harness, and then install the electronics.
3DR is out of APM's so I had to order a clone at about a third of the price - I'm taking a gamble buying a chinese clone -_-
I used to be a cable installer and I still have a set of interlocking poles for getting cable through trees and over utility wires. I can reach almost 3 stories high with them.
I had to use them to get a friend's copter out of a tree.
I fly full size hovercrafts, and the quotes go " If your not fix'in them, you're not fly'in them."
Goes with the territory.