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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

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WHAT’S INSIDE.

6 MULTIROTOR PILOT

FEATURES16 Multirotors to the rescue!A different view of the hobby—by Bob Alberding

36 It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Chicken Wings!World’s fi rst aerial chicken wing delivery—by Erick Royer

30 Interview with Peter Sachs“Drone” lawyer and pilot—by Petr Hejl

56 Demolition Derby …A view from aboveSmash ‘em up, crash ‘em up!—by Petr Hejl

PILOT REVIEWS20 Blade 350QX2 AP ComboLive the aerial video experience—by Joe Cannavo

42 Sky-Hero SpyderThe world’s most versatile quad—by Erick Royer

52 Lumenier QAV400 FPV Quadcopter400mm FPV hot rod!—by Joe Cannavo

58 Gryphon Dynamics GD-X8 1400mm Folding FrameThe massive, heavy-lift quad—by Joe Papa

68 Heli-Max 230 SiSerious fun for all quad pilots—by Eric Jordan

78 Encore RC Invertix 400—by Matt Maziarz

PILOT PROJECT32 Spidex 3D Printed Micro FPV Quadcopter3D printed, snap-together design—by Erick Royer

PRODUCT REVIEWS24 X Aircraft Super X Flight Controller with OSD and 2-Axis GimbalThere’s a new fl ight controller on the block!—by Erick Royer

46 Revolectrix Dual PowerLab 8 2688wBattery Workstation—by Joe Papa

64 Quanum DIY FPV Goggle set with monitorFPV for under $30 bucks!—by Joe Cannavo

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68FIRST LOOK12 Ares Ethos FPVFinally a real, affordable FPV multirotor—by Joe Cannavo

HOW TO72 Prevent a Crash with Telemetry—by Joe Papa

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT62 DJI H3-3D GimbalThe smoothest GoPro fottage yet!—by Petr Hejl

66 Blade 350 QX Carry Case—by Joe Cannavo

70 Secraft Radio Transmitter Tray—by Jon R. Barnes

82 DJI iOSDs-Mark II and MiniReal-time fl ight data made easy—by Joe Cannavo

COLUMNS8 Editorial

10 Multirotor DIY 3D PrintingWhat would your dream multirotor look like?—by Erick Royer

38 Visual TechGoPro Part 2White balance, fi eld of view, Protune and GoPro Studio—by John Kopec

90 Return to homeParachutes aren’t just for skydivers anymore!—by Matt Maziarz

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36

The FAA and Our Industry

LIFT.OFF

E D I T O R I A LEditor-In-Chief GREG VOGEL

Executive Editor ERICK ROYERAssociate Editor MATT MAZIARZAssociate Editor TONY PHALEN

Technical Editor & Test Pilot JOE PAPA Creative Editor & Test Pilot PETR HEJL

Copy Editors SIRI WHEELER, JENNIFER RUSSELLEditorial Coordinator CINDI VANDEMARK

C O N T R I B U T O R S JON R. BARNES, JOE CANNAVO,

PETR HEJL, ERIC JORDAN, JOHN KOPEC, MATT MAZIARZ, JOE PAPA

A R T / D E S I G NDesign Director ALAN PALERMOArt Director VICTORIA HOWELL

Corporate Photographer WALTER SIDASStaff Illustrator DAVID BAKER

Web Developer and Design TONY PHALENWeb Content Manager JEFFREY WARNER

M A R K E T I N GConsumer Marketing Director NED BIXLER

Marketing Manager SIRI WHEELERHobby Shop Manager WHIT CAMPBELL

A D V E R T I S I N GAdvertising Sales Manager RICHARD HAUPTNER

Account Executive GREG SMITHAdvertising Coordinator CINDI VANDERMARK

P R O D U C T I O NProduction Manager BOBBI-JO BALDWICK

P U B L I S H I N GPublisher SHARON WARNER

Associate Publisher NED BIXLEREditor-in-Chief GREG VOGEL

Executive Assistant to Publisher SIRI WHEELER

C O R P O R A T ECEO SHARON WARNER

President & Chief Financial Officer ELLEN BALLCorporate Editorial Content Director GREG VOGEL

PRINTED IN THE USA

8 MULTIROTOR PILOT

Multirotor Pilot (ISSN 2334-0827) Copyright 2014, all rights reserved

by Maplegate Media Group42 Old Ridgebury Road

Danbury, CT 06810, USA.

MULTIROTOR PILOT

O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

facebook.com/multirotorpilot

If you have not heard the buzz about the FAA’s latest restrictions and how they impact our hobby, then perhaps you have been living under a rock. It has been the hot topic on every forum, community website and social media site since

the agency released their “What Can I Do with My Model Aircraft?” infographic a few weeks ago. As the Executive Editor of three of the most popular radio control hobby magazines in the industry, I have been taking in a lot of what is being said and trying to process it. I chose not to fl are up and shout from my proverbial soapbox like many do anonymously online. I know I have the ears of a large audience, but since the regulations are changing and the AMA is work-ing tirelessly with the FAA to refi ne them, I did not want to post an article in print only to have the information be out-dated in a matter of weeks. I, for one, can totally understand why the FAA reacted the way they did. All you need to do is go to YouTube or set up Google Alerts for the word “Drone” and you can consume more negative info than you would ever want to see on improper use of RC aircraft. While drones, and I HATE that word, (I prefer multirotor or even UAV) seem to be the main target, the regulations affect model aircraft as well. At any time online, and often on the evening news as well, you can watch videos of machines fl ying way above the 400 foot ceiling that we are allotted for RC aircraft fl ight. You can see machines fl ying in restricted airspace, over crowds with no regard for public safety and even see them crashing into buildings and, sadly, people. How can the FAA not want to restrict this? The worst part is that these careless pilots represent such a small fraction of the RC community but they seem to be having the greatest impact. Due to the sensa-tionalism of our media and the fact that negative actions make much better news than positive actions, the general public sees these machines, again focusing on the word DRONE, as a nuisance. They see them as invading privacy and being very dangerous. It’s sad that a hobby that has been around for decades, a hobby that has brought families

closer together and that teaches valuable skills for children and adults alike, is all of a sudden in the limelight in such a negative way. While I could go on and on here, I sim-ply don’t have the space. I do want to urge all of our readers to be safe, continue to abide by the rules outlined by the AMA as we have been for years, don’t take risks that will endanger people, property or the reputation of our great hobby, and most of all, spread the positive word about our hobby. If you are with your multirotor and someone comes by and calls it a drone and shares their neg-ative impressions about what they think the machine is, take a few minutes and educate them. You will be surprised how easy it is to change someone’s way of thinking. I really want to hear your thoughts and comments. My direct email is [email protected] next month…

Erick Royer, Executive Editor [email protected]

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10 MULTIROTOR PILOT

MULTIROTORDIY

by Erick Royer

In the fi rst issue of MultiRotor Pilot magazine, I designed and 3D-printed an FPV quadcopter using an Ultimaker 2 3D printer. I made all of the fi les available for free

to readers of the magazine and I have corresponded with many people who have printed and fl own as well as modifi ed the design to their liking. I was fl att ered by all of the positive emails I got, not only praising the design but also making suggestions as to how it can be improved. Unfortunately, with my workload here at the magazine, I have not been able to design a new machine in time for this issue, but I spoke with the people at Ultimaker and we came up with an idea to collaboratively design a multirotor with our readers. Ultimaker manages a website called YouMagine.com where users share designs of all kinds of 3D printed parts. Our fi nal design is available on their website as well as on our magazine’s website. To make this happen we are going to host a forum which you can visit at ultimo.kr/MultiRotor and share your ideas as to what you think would make the ultimate multirotor machine that anyone can print on a 3D printer. There is a lot to consider with a project like this, from what type

of machine (quad, hex, octo) to how large it should be. We need to understand the limits of most hobby 3D printers on the market and keep the largest parts within their capabilities. Designing a machine where you need to hire a professional 3D print house to print defeats the purpose of this project. We also have to consider the motors, speed controls and props that this machine will require. I envision that this will be a machine that can use inexpensive components. I obtained the components for my FPV Quad from HobbyKing, as they off er a ton of motors, ESCs, props and controllers. It would be great to design a machine that not only performs well but is inexpensive to build. If you would like to be involved in this project, please visit ultimo.kr/MultiRotor and post your ideas. We will close the thread in the forum on September 15th and begin to compile all of the comments to come up with the design, at which point we will be looking for help from anyone who has CAD experience that would like to assist with the parts designs. If you have any questions or comments on this project, you can contact me directly at [email protected]. We look forward to working as a team to create the Ulti-Multirotor! �

DYI 3D PrintingWhat would your dream multirotor look like?

It was only a matt er of time before a manufacturer came to market with a sub-$300 FPV quad that off ered live video transmission to a real monitor rather than via WiFi to a cell

phone. It is a happy day as I write this because I have been looking and waiting for such a machine for over a year now. There is no shortage of micro quads that have on-board cameras; however none of them transmit live video to the pilot. Other popular machines are much more expensive and they rely on a proprietary WiFi signal to transmit video back to a cell phone or other mobile device to view live video

which, at best, still has some amount of latency. Leave it to Firelands to launch the new Ares Ethos FPV quadcopter last month at the annual Hobby Town USA show. This is the machine that I

have been waiting for, not be-cause I have a lack of higher end aerial video systems, but because there are so many times where I just want to get some video, either in a location that might put a more expensive machine at risk or where I simply don’t want to lug a bigger machine out with all the support equipment. The Ares Ethos FPV fi lls a void in the market and from our fi rst looks, it seems like it will do an excellent job. As I write this, the machine just came to our offi ce and because of our printer’s deadline, we did not have enough time to fully test and review it. But

12 MULTIROTOR PILOT

ARES

MULTIROTOR PILOTFIRST LOOK

By Joe Cannavo Photos Walter Sidas

Ethos FPVFinally a real, affordable FPV multirotor

SPECSLENGTH: 11.5 in. (292.1mm) LENGTH INCLUDING ROTORS: 18.75 in. (476mm) HEIGHT: 5 in. (127mm) ROTOR DIAMETER: 7.75 in. (196mm) WEIGHT WITH BATTERY: 11 oz. MOTORS: (4) 350-size brushed BATTERY: 2S 7.4V 1200mAh LiPo CHARGER: 2S 600mAh AC TRANSMITTER: 2.4GHz 4-channel with two channels for camera operation LCD SCREEN: 4.5 in. LCD SD CARD: 4GB ON-BOARD ELECTRONICS: 5-in-1 control board CAMERA PHOTO RESOLUTION: 1600 x 1200 JPEG AVI VIDEO RESOLUTION: 720p at 30fps

MULTIROTOR PILOT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 13

rather than wait until next issue, I decided to give you a fi rst look at this cool FPV quad and will off er a full review in the next issue. The Ethos FPV comes in two versions; RTF (ready to fl y) and WOT (without transmitt er). The pre-release sample we got to test was the RTF version. It comes complete with everything you need to get recording from the air right away, including the charger, batt ery, 6-channel transmitt er and the FPV monitor. The copter itself is a very good size, measuring 18.75 inches including the rotors, which make it perfect for fl ying outdoors on calm-wind days. The larger size also makes it easier to see when fl ying farther away from you. The heart of the Ethos FPV is, of course, the camera, monitor and real-time live video transmission system. The camera module has the video transmitt er built into the unit which transmits to the 4.5-inch LCD monitor with a self-contained video receiver. The camera itself records video to an included 4GB microSD card at a resolution of 720p at 30fps. It will also take

stills at 1600x1200 pixels in JPEG fi le format. The camera controls can be operated from the trans-mitt er as well. At fi rst glance the new Ares Ethos FPV quad-copter looks to be a very capable FPV and aerial video platform and with a price of less than $300, there is a lot of value in this machine as well. Look for our full review in the next issue. Availabilty- Mid-September 2014. �

CONTACTS ARES ares-rc.com HOBBY TOWN USA hobbytown.com

For more information, please see our source guide on page 89.

Above: The Ethos FPV quad is powered by

four 350-size motors and the shafts are sup-

ported by ball bearings. Right: The camera

mount is dampened to reduce the jello effect

in the recorded video.

16 MULTIROTOR PILOT

TO THE RESCUE!MULTIROTORS

by Bob Alberding (Foreword by Matt Maziarz) Photos by Bob Alberding

Whether you’re into the multirotor side of RC aircraft or not, the sensation-alized news stories regarding the machines are hard to miss these days. Tall tales of evil “drones” piloted by unscrupulous folks who have nothing but the most malicious intentions can easily, and often, be found in all types of media coverage. The fact of the ma er is that very few of us, if any at all, actually have plans to use our multirotors for anything illegal. Such negative connotations regarding the camera-carrying rigs in the sky is a direct result of exaggeration that is amplifi ed to garner a ention in order to gain more readers or viewers. Fear of the unknown is also a key selling point for all the “drone” stories on the web and on TV nowadays. Privacy is the driving factor when adding a high-defi nition camera to a stable aerial platform, but it makes one wonder why the folks who are determined to deem our multirotors as illegal and have them banned altogether seem to be quite comfortable with the thousands of cameras that they are surrounded by every day. Whether it’s the cell phone in just about anyone’s pocket that’s

equipped with the latest HD camera, traffi c cams mounted on stop lights, ceiling-mounted dome cameras in your local department store or even the obligatory tourist with their new hundred-mega-pixel SLR camera strapped around their neck, cameras are everywhere, regardless of what hobby-grade machines might be carrying in our skies. With so much negative a ention given to these camera rigs, we here at MultiRotor Pilot magazine felt it was our duty to bring some “feel good” type stories to the forefront in order to dispel some of the myths, while highlighting the positive infl uence that these machines can have in our society. The following is a piece wri en by RC helicopter and multirotor enthusiast, Bob Alberding. A resident of coastal New Jersey, he witnessed fi rst-hand the devastation to his town and state after the onslaught of fl ooding and wind damage brought on by Super-storm Sandy. Following the storm, he felt he had a moral obligation to his neighbors and local residents to put his fl ying skills to good use and to do his part to help out wherever and however he could.

FOREWORD

A different view of the hobby

My name is Bob Alberding. I am 34 years old and a single father of two kids, my son Aaron who

is 10 and my daughter Payton who is eight. I was born and raised in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, and I now live close by in Bricktown. I have been in the hobby for about four years now, having started off with RC helicopters. I quickly became addicted to fl ying 3D and I picked up on it rather quickly. In October of 2012, Hur-ricane Sandy hit the Jersey Shore and we were devastated. My kids, who live with their mother a few days out of the week, had six feet of water fl ow through the downstairs of their house along with many neighbors, some of whom lost everything. On social media, there were many pictures of storm damage posted by many folks, but the aerial shots were the ones that gave residents the full scope of the devastation and impact of the storm. Most of them were from full-scale planes and helicopters, but

there was one that I came across from a local guy using a multirotor. I was hoping to see more pictures than the few that he had posted, but was unsuccessful at fi nding any more. Around this time, I was a 3D heli pilot and had li le to no interest in multi-rotors, but the recent events and resulting damage made me rethink the purpose and validity of camera-carrying platforms. At this point, I wanted to get some pictures of my hometown and others, so I started save to get my own multirotor. I am a rep at Heliproz so I contacted them to see what sort of airframe they might recommend to suit my needs. They sug-gested the DJI f550 since I mentioned that I wanted to eventually carry a slightly bigger camera than a GoPro. I started out with a DJI f550 with a cheap 2-axis servo-driven scorpion gimbal to carry a GoPro Hero3 black edition, both controlled by an original Naza M unit with GPS. I also got a set of carbon fi ber

landing gear from Multirotor Solutions and a VTX and monitor from Ready Made RC so I could frame up my shots more effi ciently. After my initial fl ights, I purchased a Sony Nex 5N and an ASP 2-axis brushless gimbal from RC Timer, which made the poor GoPro start to collect dust since the quality of the photos with the Sony were amazing. By January of 2013, I was in the air ge ing some storm damage pictures with the GoPro. Though my initial fl ights were made a good few months removed from the date of the storm, the damage that had been caused was still readily apparent as many prop-erties had not yet been surveyed. Even to this day, the changes in the landscape of the environment as well as structures are still obvious. I began posting my pics and footage on Facebook (facebook.com/remotecontrolaerialphotography) and NJHeliPhoto.com to share my photos with locals and also people who were out of state who had lived here, have summer homes here or just vacation here. The Face-book page soon gained a lot of a ention and my photos started being shared all over the web. I would get emails asking me to take pictures of diff erent towns as people wanted to see what the damage had looked like, and even from people who wanted to see if their property was still intact since they were out-of-state. Everything I was doing was on a volun-teer basis and I was happy to do it. There was such a sense of community here after the storm that I hope will remain, which is why I was more than happy to volun-teer my time and eff orts to such a cause. Neighbors were helping neighbors in any way they could and this was a small way I could give back. I began sending my photos to townships of the beach areas that sustained the most damage. They were very appreciative since this was not only a great perspective, but it was a free source of documentation of the damage that would be able to be used for insurance

The Army Corps of Engineers, NY District, performing a much-needed beach replenishment on the coastline of New Jersey. The Corps used Bob’s photos and videos for before and after reference.

A local attraction for many years, the Jet Star roller coaster in Seaside Heights, NJ, fell victim to the powerful storm surge of Hurricane Sandy.

A boat that had been displaced by the storm sits near the banks of the Toms River. The fuel spill emanating from the boat was readily apparent in the photo and prompted the town offi cials to call on the DEEP to safely remedy the situation.


18 MULTIROTOR PILOT

MULTIROTORS TO THE RESCUE!

or state and federal aid applications, not to mention for future historical reference. One of my encounters was with the Army Corps of Engineers, who happened to be performing much-needed beach replenishment work in many of the shore towns. While shooting pictures one day, I was near where they were working and I decided to get some photos and video of their work. I kept a safe distance, as I always do, and then shared my work with the Army Corps on their Facebook page. They were very excited to see this technol-ogy used for this purpose and were blown away with the endless uses they could think of for it. They asked permission to use my work at town meetings where my photos and video really show exactly what the process is for the sand pumping and beach fi ll. Additionally, I felt this was a great benefi t to the locals because they could gain a be er understanding of the process and maybe dispel some of the misconceptions that people had about the work. Because of the massive amount of recovery work that was and still is needed here, I have begun to develop a close relationship with the Army Corps and I am more than willing to continue to work with them on other projects and volunteer as much as my work schedule allows for it. One thing I would like to stress is that I am very safe with where I fl y and the tim-ing of it. I never fl y on a crowded beach as most of my fl ights were conducted during the colder months when the beaches have very few people on them. I also fl y with a spo er as much as possible and only fl y over public land when I have permis-sion from the property owner or offi cials entrusted with those particular parcels of land. I am constantly checking my equip-ment for any signs of wear and I replace

the parts when needed, even if there is a slight concern about something. For the past year I have been a part of a group called RCFLI.org as their safety coordinator, where we volunteer our time and resources to the hobby. Remote Control Flight Leadership Initiative (RCFLI) is a nationwide, community-based non-profi t organization that supports RC hobbyists. We advocate through political process, public outreach and education to assure the continued use of airspace to safely operate remote control aircraft with and without image capabilities. RCFLI expects to carry out public education by identifying individ-ual hobbyists interested in investing their time to spread the word about hobby safety, privacy and fun both locally and sometimes regionally. We believe that on-the-ground advocacy, face-to-face interaction and the eff orts of many translates into increasing the number of hobbyists. Additionally, becoming recognized in the community as a hobbyist adds a more personal, human element to the hobby and helps those that are not in the know that the tools of our hobby are being used in a safe, respectful and altruistic manner. We welcome people to join our group as well and to do what-ever they can to contribute to our cause. This could be something as li le as doing a demonstration for interested parties or as much as ge ing involved in the political process at a local or state level. Here are a couple quotes from people for whom I have volunteered my time and pictures:

“Bob Alberding has been a valuable resource to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District. He has taken aerial photos of ongoing repair work at the Barnegat Inlet north je y. We use the images for a variety of purposes including sharing with stakeholders, historical

reference and viewing progress.”—Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District

“The Township of Toms River is extremely grateful for the help that Bob Alberding has provided to our residents. His aerial photos literally gave us a bird’s eye view of the extent of the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. The Ortley Beach section of Toms River was known as ‘Ground Zero’ and was the epicenter of the storm in New Jersey. It would have been nearly impossible to survey the extent of the damage with just drive-by’s, so the Township is very appreciative of his photographic evidence. In addition, the aerial footage, which was posted on our Township website, helped residents not only see the latest ‘before and after’ photos, but it helped to relay evidence to insurance investi-gators who work out of state. We hope to use Mr. Alberding’s work again when the Army Corps of Engineers replenishes our beaches in the fall of 2014. We will use the upcoming photos as a tool to showcase the new and extended beaches that we hope to have in Toms River.”—Offi cial from the Mayor’s offi ce of Toms River, NJ

“Mr. Alberding’s aerial photos and videos of the Corps’ ongoing beach replenishment work in New Jersey have provided a unique perspective of the major projects going on to restore coastal storm risk management and erosion control projects after Hurricane Sandy. The imagery gives stakeholders a unique perspective of these large-scale ongoing projects on their beaches that they don’t get when they are seeing these proj-ects while walking along the beach, and because of that have been very popular with local resi-dents and personnel here at the Corps.”—Army Corps of Engineers, NY District �

Below left: The Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, works to rebuild a jetty in Island Beach State Park. Below right: An aerial shot of the extensive damage caused by the board-walk fi re in Seaside Heights, NJ. The blaze was started by electrical wires that had been corroded by the fl ood waters resulting from the storm surge.

350 QX2BLADE

AP COMBOLive the aerial video experience

20 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWby Joe Cannavo

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Blace

TYPE: All-in-one aerial video quadcopter

FOR: Beginner to advanced pilots

MINIMUM FLYING AREA: Baseball fi eld PRICE: $899.99

NEEDED TO COMPLETE: MicroSD memory card for the camera and an iOS or Android-compatible device for

FPV use.

By Horizon Hobby

Author’s OpinionHaving fl own the Blade 350 QX for a long time

now, it has become one of my favorite quads

and I use it for GoPro stills and also for FPV fl y-

ing. I have tried to put a few gimbals on it but

they never really worked very well. The 350

QX2 has all the same excellent fl ying qualities of

the 350 QX and the new 2-axis gimbal and the

included C-Go 1 camera provide excellent video

quality that rivals other “popular” action cams.

WHAT MAKES THE AP COMBOThe AP Combo includes the new C-Go 1 1080p HD action camera, GB200 brush-less gimbal and a free app that you can download for your compatible Android or iOS device. This system allows you to not only view a live stream of your video in real time, but it allows you to control the camera’s functions (photo/video), record (stop/start) and shutter for still photos, as well as viewing and transferring fi les from the camera to your device after the fl ight. You can adjust the camera’s contrast, brightness, sharpness and saturation settings from the app as well and you can also monitor the SD card’s capacity (memory remain-ing) along with the camera’s battery life from the app. When you power on the camera, it creates a 5.8GHz Wi-Fi network that you need to connect to in order to use the app. Once connected, you can launch the app and you will see a live video feed from the camera. The cam-era will record full 1080p HD video to the optional microSD video card and it transmits 720p HD video to your device for FPV (fi rst person view). A mount is included to attach your device to the transmitter so you can easily view the screen while fl ying. The camera itself is slightly larger physically than a GoPro Hero3 but it is a hair lighter. The GB200 brushless gimbal is designed with a mount that is specifi cally made for the C-Go 1 camera. There are plans to introduce a GoPro Hero3 mount for this gimbal as well. The gimbal operates independently of the 350 QX2, only obtaining power from a small cable that connects to the gim-bal controller. There is an option to allow remote control of the camera’s tilt but it requires a Spektrum transmitter with an addition channel. When using this feature, the cable is moved to the center plug on the controller and the signal from the receiver channel is passed along, as well as the power to the gimbal. I used a Spektrum DX9 to fl y the 350 QX2 so I could assign the tilt control to the right rear slider and it worked excellent.

It is no secret that the main reason that people buy multirotor machines is to take either aerial video or photographs, capturing images like never before. Having been working closely with the team on our new MultiRotor Pilot magazine, I have seen some pre y

amazing aerial video machines that can cost up to $10,000 or more. I personally love my Blade 350 QX, which started as a V1 and I upgraded the software to the new V2 version. I have used my 350 QX for taking GoPro stills and for fl ying FPV with FatShark video goggles, but I was never that impressed with the video quality because there is no stabilization for the cam-era other than the four rubber dampeners. Earlier this year, Blade announced that the new 350 QX2 was going to be released by summer 2014. That machine immediately went to the top of my “want” list and when it came up for review, I begged to do it.

PROS Two-axis brushless gimbal provided very

stable and steady video even when the wind

was blowing the copter around a bit

The included C-Go 1 camera offers full

1080p/30fps video quality

Comes with an integrated 5.8GHz video

downlink to supported devices (iPhone/

Android phones; requires downloading

a free app)

3S 3000mAh LiPo is included for longer

fl ight times

Has improved receiver with external

antenna and improved GPS over the

original 350 QX

Includes a visual compass error detection

Works with all Spektrum transmitters

CONS Can’t use the optional camera tilt feature

with the included 4-channel radio; need a

Spektrum 6 or greater channel radio; I tested

with great results on a Spektrum DX9

Can’t use an external monitor for FPV; only

works through the free app via Wi-Fi net

work that it creates

Slight latency (delay) in video on the

app’s screen

FPV with iPhone cuts out at 200-250 feet

away from pilot


I’ve been fl ying a Blade 350 QX with the new Firmware 2.0 for a while now, so I have nothing but great things to say about the stability, performance and GPS capabilities of this machine. With that in mind, I had no concerns, fears or nervousness when I took the 350 QX2 up for the fi rst time. Before takeoff I turned on the camera, attached my iPhone 5 to it and launched the app. After confi rming that I had a live video feed, I powered on the 350 QX2 and waited for it to initialize and fi nd GPS signal. Once I had a solid LED, I powered up the motors and took fl ight. The QX2 did feel slightly heavier than the 350 QX in fl ight, but that translated to a more stable feeling. I rocked the controls a lot to see the action of the brushless gimbal and no matter what I did, it kept that camera level, which was evident when watching the video on my phone. I did notice that there was some minor latency (delay) in the video, which is not unheard of with a Wi-Fi video link as opposed to a direct RF link. It was not anything that disrupted my experi-ence since I was fl ying line-of-sight and merely using the screen to frame the shots I wanted. I took some time to experience each of the fl ight modes and each worked very well. The mode best suited for a beginner is the Smart Mode which gives you GPS/Altitude Hold, Safe Circle and Stick Relativity. As a more advanced multirotor pilot, this mode sometimes con-fuses me because if I move the stick, I expect the machine to move in the direction that I tell it and not in relation to myself. But I do fi nd this mode invaluable, even as an advanced pilot, because if you lose orientation or fl y too far away, pulling the right stick back will bring the 350 QX2 back to you no matter the orientation. Furthermore, if you have to shoot panning shots while moving in one direction, the mode is also a necessity as you can continually pan the copter while moving the right stick and it will rotate and move in the direction you com-mand. This is very diffi cult to do in a normal fl ight mode as it requires a lot of coordination. Stability Mode is one that I use on my 350 QX when fl ying FPV with video goggles as it gives me self-leveling and optional GPS hold which comes in handy if I get disoriented. I can simply let go of the sticks and it will remain in a stable hover at the current altitude, which gives me a minute to get my bearings. The new mode, and one I was most anxious to use, is the Aerial Photography mode. This allows the 350 QX2 to remain locked into any position you put it while the controls are held in neutral and it works very well. It allows you to get the copter in position and then monitor the video on your device and make minor adjustments to obtain the perfect shots. The last, and in my opinion, one of the most useful features of any GPS-enabled multiro-tor is Return Home. In the event something happens and you lose orientation you can simply fl ip a switch and the 350 QX2 will automatically return to where it took off and land itself. I have tried this feature many times and every time it works perfectly, landing no more than a foot or two from where it took off.

IN THE AIR

The Blade 350 QX2 AP Combo comes as a ready-to-fl y (RTF) package which includes the 350 QX2, C-Go 1 1080p HD camera, 2-axis brushless gimbal, Spektrum DX4 transmi er, 3S 3000mAh LiPo ba ery, AC/DC charger, and four “AA” ba eries for the transmit-ter. The only thing you need to provide is an iOS or Android-compatible device for FPV use and a microSD memory card to record video. There is some minor assembly despite the box saying none is required. The gimbal has to be a ached to the copter using the four supplied screws and the Allen wrench that is also supplied. The FPV device mount also has to be a ached to the transmi er to hold your phone. It takes a ma er of minutes and you are ready to start recording some amaz-ing aerial HD video. The Blade 350 QX came with a 3S 2200mAh LiPo ba ery which gave about 10 minutes of fl ight time. With the added weight of the camera and gimbal, the 350 QX2 comes with a 3S 3000mAh LiPo which provides around the same fl ight time. An AC/DC charger is included, which will recharge the ba ery in an hour or less.

PACKED WITH FEATURES

I remember thinking about how amazing the features of the original Blade 350 QX were, but the new QX2 has dramatically improved on its feature list. Like its prede-cessor, the heart of what makes it so great is the Blade SAFE (Sensor Assisted Flight

We Used

TRANSMITTER

Spektrum DX9 (SPMR9900)

22 MULTIROTOR PILOT


Envelope) technology. SAFE is a revolu-tionary electronic fl ight envelope protection system that off ers smoother fl ight capa-bilities, which makes fl ying in windy conditions much easier. Some hardware and software improve-ments were made, including the addition of an updated receiver with an external antenna. The QX2 features fi rmware 2.0, adds a new fl ight mode and a refi ned

starting procedure and it off ers improved GPS performance. It also now includes visual com-pass error detection; the onboard LED now fl ashes orange if the sensor detects a magnet or metal object nearby. The QX2 off ers multiple fl ight modes so you can fl y with the level of pro-tection and assistance that best matches your fl ight conditions. There are seven main features that I will outline that make the Blade 350 QX2 an even more amazing machine.

SMART MODE (GREEN LED)

While in Smart Mode, SAFE technology prevents the 350 QX2 from pitching or roll-ing past a certain angle, thus making it very diffi cult for the pilot to over-control the air-craft, even with full stick defl ection applied. The 350 QX2 will also return to a stable and level hover as soon as you return the sticks to the center position. GPS/A itude Hold, SAFE Circle and Stick Relativity are all available in this mode.

STABILITY MODE (BLUE LED)

In Stability Mode, the 350 QX2 will have a very limited fl ight envelope with self-leveling capability for consistent level fl ight and optional GPS Hold. This mode is the best choice for capturing video as the QX2 will fl y smoothly, and when GPS Hold is enabled, it will remain in a fi xed position in space while the video records.

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY MODE

(PURPLE LED) The new Aerial Photography Mode keeps the 350 QX2 AP in a steady hover and locked into position while the controls are held at neutral which is ideal for photo and video capture.

SAFE CIRCLE

While in Smart Mode, the 350 QX2 will off er the pilot protection in the form of a 30-foot-diameter invisible barrier called SAFE Circle. When activated the 350 QX2 will not enter this airspace, thus preventing pilots from fl y-ing too close to themselves.

STICK RELATIVITY

This is a very unique feature which is incredibly helpful, especially with

novice pilots. When activated, as you move the cyclic stick to the left or right, the 350 QX2 will move left or right rela-tive to the pilot regardless of which way the machine is pointing.

GPS AND ALTIMETER TECHNOLOGY

The integrated GPS and Altimeter sensors are designed to keep the 350 QX2 in a stable hover position regardless of wind conditions as long as the controls are held at neutral. Once activated, you can concentrate on pan-ning the 350 QX2 or slightly moving it for seamless video capture.

RETURN HOME

With the fl ip of a switch on the transmi er and no stick input from the pilot, the 350 QX2 will automatically return to the position where its motors started for that particular fl ight.

THE LAST WORD

The Blade 350 QX is an excellent multi-rotor platform to begin with but the new 350 QX2 AP Combo takes this machine to a whole new level. The 2-axis gimbal and new C-Go 1 1080p HD camera make this the perfect entry-level aerial video ship. It is also a great machine for professional aerial video experts that need a smaller sys-tem to get aerial video in tighter spaces. The 350 QX2 is easy to fl y with solid perfor-mance. The camera off ers very good quality as well and, coupled with the gimbal, you can count on very stable video. �

CONTACTS BLADE bladehelis.com, (217) 352-1913HORIZON HOBBY horizonhobby.com, (217) 352-1913 SPEKTRUM spektrumrc.com, (217) 352-1913


SPECSLENGTH: 18.3 in. (465mm)

WIDTH: 18.3 in. (465mm)

HEIGHT: 7.5 in. (190mm)

MAIN ROTOR DIAMETER: 22.8 in. (580mm)

MAIN ROTOR BLADE LENGTH: 8.27 in. (210mm)

FLYING WEIGHT: 35.5 oz.

RADIO: Includes Spektrum DX4 DSMX 4-channel

radio; requires an additional

channel to use optional camera pitch

control; used Spektrum DX9 to test this

MOTORS: (4) 1100kV brushless outrunners

ESCS: (4) 10A brushless

DURATION: 10-12 minutes

BATTERY: 11.1V 3S 3000mAh 30C LiPo (included)

CAMERA: C-GO 1 1080p HD

GIMBAL: GB200 2-axis brushless gimbal

FPV PROTOCOL: Digital 5.8GHz Wi-Fi network

FPV DISTANCE: Android-based

phones: 300 meters; iPhone: 70 meters

C-GO 1 CAMERA SPECSHEIGHT: 1.72 in. (43.8mm)

LENGTH: 2.52 in. (64.1mm)

WIDTH: 1.76 in. (44.6mm)

WEIGHT: 2.65 oz. (75 grams)

OPERATING ENVIRONMENT TEMPERATURE: 14° to 122° F (-10° to 50° C)

WORKING TIME: 60 - 90 minutes (depending on Wi-Fi usage)

OPTICAL ZOOM: Fixed focus

APERTURE: F2.8/F3.0

FIELD OF VIEW: (FOV) 120°

SENSOR SIZE: CMOS 1/2.7 in.

HD RECORDING: 1080p, 30fps

VIDEO FORMAT: AVI (H.264)

PHOTO FORMAT: JPEG

AUDIO FORMAT: AAC

PIC RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

DOWNLINK RESOLUTION: D1 720X480/30p

STORAGE PORT: microSD (up to 16GB supported)

With OSD and 2-Axis GimbalSUPER XX AIRCRAFT

There’s a new flight controller on the block!

24 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PRODUCT REVIEW

by Erick Royer

Sadly, in the world of GPS-enabled fl ight controllers, there are not too many options on the market. You can either go with a common DJI controller like the Naza, Wookong or A2, or you can go more of the DIY route and look at a

MultiWii or Ardupilot system; both of which are not plug-and-play and require some eff ort to properly set up and tune on your end. I have been tirelessly looking for other alternatives for GPS fl ight controllers, which led me to the X Aircraft product line, distributed by X Aircraft America. They off er the Super X Flight Controller, which at fi rst glance resembled the DJI A2 with its machined billet aluminum case and I assumed it car-ried the A2’s high price as well. But the more I researched, I found that they off er three versions of the Super X, which range from $399 to $599. The hardware for each version is exactly the same; however diff erent multirotor confi gurations are unlocked from the fi rmware to match your specifi c machine. The $399 version gives you quadcopter confi gu-rations of both X and + styles. For $499, you get the quads with the addition of hexcopters in both X and Y6 styles. The $599 version gives you everything plus octocopters in X and X8 styles. It is important to note that at any time, you can upgrade from one version to the next by visiting the X Aircraft America website.

FLIGHT CONTROLLER

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: X Aircraft

DISTRIBUTOR: X Aircraft America

TYPE: GPS-enabled fl ight controller

PRICE: $399 (Quad X and +); $499 (Hexa X and Y6); $599 (Octo X and X8); Stella 2-Axis Brushless Gimbal: $295.00; OSD: $169.00

FEATURES Supports three fl ight modes: Manual, Attitude

and GPS Attitude.

Height (Altitude) hold.

Safe Mode options: return to home and

auto-landing.

Built-in compensation signal outputs for bi-axial

gimbal (roll and tilt axis).

Built-in green software for confi guration (no need

to install any drivers or software).

X Aircraft OSD and Stella Brushless Gimbal inte-

grate directly into the controller.

Machined billet aluminum cases.

Fast and easy setup–go from box to air in

a matter of minutes.

Three high-precision industrial-grade gyros.

Three-axis accelerometer sensor.

High-precision barometer.

Built-in Thermostatic system to ensure that the

sensors are working optimally.

Built-in micro USB port for tuning settings and

upgrading fi rmware.

SPECS HOVER PRECISION: Vertical: +/- 1m;

Horizontal: +/- 2m

WIND RESISTANCE ABILITY: <8m/s

(17.9 mph)

MAX YAW SPEED: 200 deg/sec

MAX INCLINATION ANGLE: 35 deg

MAX VERTICAL SPEED: 6 m/sec

REMOTE CONTROLLER: S.Bus, PCM or at

least 5 traditional channels

OS REQUIREMENTS: Windows only

FLIGHT CONTROLLER

INPUT VOLTAGE: 5.7-6V

WEIGHT: 65g

DIMENSIONS: 42.1x34.2x27.9mm

GPS MODULEWEIGHT: 58g

DIMENSIONS: 74.4mm diameter, 11.35mm high

IO MODULEINPUT VOLTAGE: 11.1V – 28V (3S to 6S LiPo)

WEIGHT: 35g

DIMENSIONS: 16.9x12.11x7mm

MULTIROTOR PILOT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 25 Photos By Daniel Royer and Joe Papa

ing on each channel as it is done automatically by the Super X. Fast alter the fl ight mode switch again and push both sticks to the upper right position. Keep both sticks in that position and then fast alter the switch one last time. Cycle the power and you are done. While this might sound like a lot, the whole process takes less than fi ve minutes to complete and everything is automatically con-fi gured by the Super X. The only se ing you need to make is to choose the airframe style.

FLYING THE SUPER X

Prior to take off, it is important to ensure that the Super X has a solid GPS home lock, which can take a minute or two to obtain depending on your location. To power up the motors, you need to push both sticks down and to the inside of the controller or down and to the out-side. If you don’t move the throttle stick within three seconds of powering on the motors, they will turn off for safety. After your flight, when you land the copter and reduce the throttle stick all the way, the motors will immediately stop. The motors will also stop when the copter is in the air and you reduce the throttle all the way to zero and leave it there for three seconds. You might do this if you had some sort of recovery system, like a parachute, but it is unlikely you will experience this. The Super X has an auto take-off feature that will automatically take off and hold hover the machine at about six feet altitude by simply advancing the throttle to center stick. When in anything other than manual, centering the throttle stick will activate height hold and keep the copter at the alti-tude it is at, whether hovering or in motion. You can adjust the gain via a knob on your transmitter to fine-tune its performance based on payload or wind conditions. To further tune the models gain, you can reconnect it to your computer and enter the config software again. You can independently adjust the roll, pitch, yaw and height gains via the software. I used a Sky-Hero Spy in the Y6 configu-ration for my testing. I had the Stella Gimbal and OSD also installed on this machine. I was amazed at how stable the Super X held the machine in GPS mode. It was much better than the Naza I had installed previously. I tried both attitude and GPS modes and the performance of both was outstanding and exceeded my expectations. One of the first things I test with a GPS con-troller is the failsafe mode. I want to know that it will work as expected in the event I have a prob-lem or lose orientation. The Super X supports four types of Safe Modes (which are configured in the software); return to home and land (tail in), return to home and land (nose in), hovering at a predefined altitude and landing in place. Other than selecting which mode you want, the only other parameter is to define the height of the model during safe mode. I flew about

200 feet away and switched to safe mode and the model began to fly back to the starting loca-tion quickly and as it got closer, it slowed down and began to descend, coming to a rest exactly nine inches from where I took off. Impressive!

SUPER X BLACK BOX

One really cool feature of the Super X is that it stores a fl ight data log onboard that can be uploaded to their Black Box site online for analyzing. You can store up to 40 minutes of fl ight data at a time. If you don’t download it then subsequent fl ights will simply over-write the data. Once you upload the log fi le to Black Box, you have the ability to play back your fl ight, which it overlays the fl ight path over Google Earth. You can analyze data such as copter a itude, altitude, position and movement, radio inputs and motor outputs. This data can be used to make sure all motors and ESCs are performing optimally.

ARE THERE ANY CONS?

I did not have a lot of cons that I could report about this product or the OSD and gimbal either for that ma er. One thing that the Super X does not off er that other controllers do is intelligent orientation control, where the con-trol inputs are relative to your position as the pilot and not to the copter’s position in space. These modes can be useful when shooting continuous panning shots while moving the copter away or towards yourself. They also come in handy in safely landing a hex or octo-copter in the event of a motor failure. It is not a huge con, but if you are used to those features then you might fi nd yourself missing them with the Super X. As of this printing there is no ground station or waypoint programming option but according to their website, these are features that are in development.

THE LAST WORD

I set out to fi nd a fl ight controller that performed as well as or be er than the DJI solu-tions without the complexity of the open source solutions and what I found was a fl ight control-ler that is superior in many ways. If I were to compare it to a DJI controller, I would say that it is much be er than the Naza and every bit as good as the Wookong at less than half the cost. The performance and ease of setup can have even novice multirotor pilots fl ying success-fully in a very short time. When you combine the Super X with the Stella Gimbal and OSD, you have a very capable high end system for professional video work. �

CONTACTS GOPRO gopro.com SKY-HERO kdsmodelsusa.com X AIRCRAFT xaircraftamerica.com

For more information, please see the source guide on page 89.


OSD FEATURES Provides information on:

•Your ground speed •Vertical speed •Horizontal speed •Battery voltage •Flight time •Heading •Height •Direction to Home •Number of satellites

Easily connects to your video camera and transmitter Integrates directly to the Super X fl ight

controller and Stella 2-Axis Brushless Gimbal

If you are looking for the best FPV experi-ence then you need an OSD (On Screen Display), as it provides you with valuable fl ight data in real time on your video mon-itor. If you are using your copter to shoot video then the two main features that you will rely on are your battery voltage moni-tor (2) and the low battery alarm (8). Since multirotors do not glide very well, it is very important to know the status of your bat-tery at all times. The fl ight mode indicator (4) will let you know which mode you are in (attitude, GPS, or manual). You can also see your throttle position (5). This is important because at 50 percent throttle, the Super X Flight Controller will keep the copter locked in at the altitude that it resides (altitude hold). If you switch to safe mode, a mes-sage will fl ash on the screen (9). If you are fl ying full FPV (non-line of site) via a monitor or video goggles, then you will fi nd the rest of the data invalu-able. The horizontal line (6) will let you know the attitude of your aircraft with relation to the horizon, while the pitch indicator (7) will let you know if the air-craft is ascending or descending. This can also be monitored by the horizon-tal velocity (3) and vertical velocity (13). The most important pieces of data on the screen for FPV fl ying are horizontal dis-tance from home (11), vertical distance from home (12) and heading in relation to the takeoff point (10). The OSD will also let you know how many satellites it is connected to (1) and the video channel that you are using (14). The X Aircraft is a very robust OSD and when coupled with the Super X and Stella gimbal or other video camera you will be able to fully immerse yourself in the FPV experience.

MULTIROTOR PILOT MAGAZINE: First things fi rst…any RC magazine interview could not start with any other question than how did you get into the aerial RC hobbies?

PETER SACHS: Full-size helicopters are far too expensive to rent, if you could even fi nd a place to rent one. A drone costs pennies an hour to operate. So, my rotorcraft fl ying is now limited to drones. Incidentally, I only call them drones.

MPM: How does one become a “drone advo-cate,” and what drove and inspired you to do what you do for our community and hobby?

PETER: Although the specifi c issue involves drones, the far larger issue is a federal gov-ernment agency ignoring the dictates of Congress; lying and using intimidation tac-tics to enforce laws that do not exist. I have a strong distaste for government wrongdoing.

MPM: At times, you seem to taunt the FAA about their authority to regulate model air-craft and UAV operations. It seems like the FAA has managed, through its actions, to alienate the very people it should involve in the process of UAV integration. In your opinion, what should be the FAAs role in

UAV regulation and what steps could they take to regain the trust of the industry?

PETER: I do taunt the FAA and I do so for a reason. I, unlike others, have nothing to lose. Flying commercially is not my primary source of income. And I have no legal fees if the FAA were to come aft er me. My “in your face” method is designed to get the FAA’s att ention and the att ention of other drone pilots because I wanted the FAA to know that they are being watched and the other pilots to know that I’m willing to call the FAA to task. Lawyers typically represent clients, so they have to be careful about what they say. I never represent clients so I can speak my mind.

MPM: There have been numerous eff orts to enact state laws regulating the use of UAVs with diff ering degrees of success. I recall the enjoyable day we spent at our state’s House of Representatives giving testimonies on our state’s fi rst proposed bill. Do you think that the states should get involved in regulating UAVs by creating their own “drone laws” or should the regulation be handled only on federal level?

PETER: States can only regulate the fl ight in two ways: They can regulate the fl ight oper-

ation of their own agencies and they can regulate where you can take off , land and where you may stand while fl ying. That’s it. All other aspects of fl ight fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the FAA.

MPM: There have been suggestions to create a regulatory agency dealing with robotics, which would also handle the UAV-related regulations. As worrisome as creating another regulatory body may be, do you think that such an agency may be bett er suited to deal with UAVs and any technol-ogies that are likely to cause similar legal controversies in the future (self-driving cars for example)?

PETER: I can’t speak for robotics, but insofar as drones are concerned, I think creating a new agency is not the answer. The FAA has shown it is not well-suited for the task, so it should be left to community-based organ-izations, as the FMRA (Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act) of 2012 requires.

MPM: The overall feel amongst the members of our community is that some regulation may be necessary and would be welcome if it fostered responsibility and provided

30 MULTIROTOR PILOT

MULTIROTORINTERVIEW

by Petr Hejl of notadrone.com

Interview withPETER SACHS“Drone” lawyer and pilot

Peter Sachs was recently named as one of the eight most infl uential people in drones by industry-specialized website dronedefi nition.com, earning himself a spot with the likes of Brendan Schulman (att orney and hobby advocate), Jeff Bezos (CEO,

amazon.com), Nick Woodman (CEO, GoPro), and Michael Huerta (Administrator, FAA). Peter is a Connecticut-based att orney, private investigator, photographer, volunteer fi re-fi ghter, FAA-licensed commercial helicopter pilot. He is also an advanced ground school instructor and a long-time RC model aircraft and multirotor pilot. He is a vocal RC and UAV advocate and founder of Drone Pilot Association (DPA), an organization he created to rep-resent the interests of UAV operators (dronepilotsassociation.com). He is also the editor of dronelawjournal.com, a website about RC & UAV legal news and information and helps keep the community up-to-date via Twitt er and Facebook forums. He actively participates in debates about UAV regulations at the state and federal levels.


a way to license commercial use with-out unnecessary burdens on hobbyists and entrepreneurs. In your opinion, what should a well-balanced set of regulations include?

PETER: I think there should be no regula-tions at all for drones of a certain size. The FAA’s current proposals include even tiny 2-inch drones, which is ridiculous. For larger drones, I’m open to any regulatory scheme that is limited to ensuring safety. Regulations should not present any barriers to those who wish to use drones commer-cially, as the exchange of money has nothing to do with safety. Other non-hobbyist uses, such as conducting educational or scientifi c research, performing fi re or police services or conducting search and rescue operations should not be hindered by burdensome reg-ulations. Although most of what is found in Advisory Circular AC 91-57 makes sense, the usefulness of drones makes it silly to prevent them from being used only in “unpopulated” areas. The FAA’s recently proposed restrictions on FPV are also entirely nonsensical. There is no evidence whatsoever that fl ying FPV makes a fl ight inherently unsafe.

MPM: While there seems to be quite a few groups and organizations doing a prett y good job keeping the UAV community involved and informed, the industry as a whole seems to be too young for the real big leaders to emerge. Do you think any of the existing organizations have a potential to become a leader with a big enough mem-bership base, a clear goal and resources to represent our community in regulatory pro-cess (state or federal) in the foreseeable future? Or will this still be left up to individ-uals and relatively small groups willing to invest their own time, energy and resources into advocating for our cause.

PETER: I just formed the Drone Pilots Asso-ciation. Its goal is to represent the interests of all non-hobbyist drone pilots. We plan to off er education and training, insurance and a legal services plan. The Association is brand new, but at the time of this interview has already garnered 1,000 members in its fi rst two days of existence.

MPM: What is your advice to the newcomers into this hobby looking to stay up-to-date with the world of regulations and for guid-ance on safely operating their machines?

PETER: There won’t be any for quite some time, aside from the new Interpretive Rule of June 25. At this point I would suggest fol-lowing the various drone authorities on Twitt er, news regarding regulations will “break” there fi rst. There’s also my site, dronelawjournal.com, which addresses the current federal laws as it relates to drones. On Facebook, Drone Laws - by Brendan Schulman and UAV Legal News & Discussion are great groups to join the conversation with fellow operators. Even lacking current regulations, it’s not a bad idea to review the existing Federal Aviation Regulations that are available online.

MPM: What is your most rewarding or mem-orable experience with RC aircraft ?

PETER: My fi re fl ight back in January 2014, where a large blaze erupted in a quarry that was laden with explosives. There was no safe way to send a human in to see how close the blaze was to the explosives, so I was asked to fl y over the quarry to get a bird’s-eye view. It worked. The chief was able to see the entire scene on my moni-tor and determined the fl ames were still far enough away to send in the fi refi ght-ers. That marked the fi rst time ever that a

drone was used for decision-making at a fi re scene.

MPM: There are many entrepreneurs hoping to turn the aerial videography into business, but some are afraid because of the uncer-tainty surrounding the regulations, some are doing it while trying to stay “below the radar” and some already registered their business, pay taxes, insured them-selves and openly advertise their services. This may be a bit of a tricky question: As an aerial videographer yourself, what would you recommend that they do, given the cur-rent state of the industry and FAA’s att empts to regulate it?

PETER: I would recommend they fi rst obtain general aeronautical knowledge, including general weather and airspace knowledge. Then they should train and practice until they are confi dent they can operate their drone safely. Aft er that, get insured, fi nd cli-ents and start fl ying. It’s my opinion (but not legal advice) that it is perfectly legal to do so. Of course, the FAA will tell you the exact opposite.

List of resources to help you stay in touch with “drone laws” and the community:

Websites:dronepilotsasssociation.comdronelawjournal.com

Facebook:Drone Laws - Brendan SchulmanUAV Legal News and Discussion

Twitt er:@dronelaws@TheDroneGuy �

The overall feel amongst the members of our community is that some regulation may be necessary and

would be welcome if it fostered responsibility and provided a way to license commercial use without

unnecessary burdens on hobbyists and entrepreneurs.

3D printed, snap-together

design

32 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOTPROJECT

by Erick Royer

FPV Quadcopter

3D PRINTEDMICRO

SPIDEX SPECSWIDTH: 7.5 in.

LENGTH: 6.75 in.

HEIGHT: 2.7 in.

WEIGHT (READY TO FLY): 14.6 oz.

MOTORS: RCX 1804-2400Kv (2 CW and 2 CCW)

ESCS: (4) Lumenier 12A w/SimonK

BATTERY: Turnigy 3S 1300mAh LiPo

FLIGHT CONTROLLER: HP Heli Super

Multirotor Controller

RADIO: Spektrum DX9 transmitter with

a Spektrum R5200 receiver

PROPS: (4) 5x3 Gemfan

FPV CAMERA: Fatshark 600TVL

FPV TRANSMITTER: Fat Shark 250mW 5.8GHz

VIDEO RECORDING CAMERA: Mobius Action Cam

FPV VIEWER: Fatshark Attitude V2 FPV goggles

In the fi rst issue of MultiRotor Pilot Magazine, I designed and built a foldable FPV quadcopter that

was completely 3D printed. Since the magazine was published, I received emails from a lot of people who down-loaded, printed and have fl own my design with great success. Several other people also modifi ed it and made enhancements which I took as a huge compliment…that someone took my design and ran with it to make it be er. In this issue I wanted to design another quad, a mini quad to be exact, and I have a very unique idea in mind, but what I did not have in my favor was time. Our ship date for this magazine was fast approach-ing and I was going to have to put off the project. Then I was speaking with a friend at Ultimaker, a leading 3D printer manu-facturer in the Netherlands. Since I do a lot of printing with their machine, because it’s amazing, we thought it would be cool to fea-ture a quadcopter that was made available on their website, youmagine.com, while we continued to work on the new custom quad for a future issue. After looking through the site, I se led on the Spidex Micro, which was originally designed by Quaternium located in Spain. The design was so popular that Quaternium made the fi les open-source so makers and hobbyists around the world could print the copter at will.

3D PRINTING

The Spidex Micro is a micro FPV quad that features a snap-together design requiring no hardware other than the screws to a ach the motors. The quad frame is comprised of eight parts, which are printed from fi ve sepa-rate fi les. I decided to print this copter using PLA plastic because it is durable and sta-ble enough to print the large, one-piece main frame without distorting or curling; a com-

mon problem with ABS. I chose hot pink and white fi lament for the model. Why these colors? October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I wanted to honor all of those women aff ected by the disease. The pink color is also very easy to see in fl ight, especially when the sun hits it. After downloading the fi les, I opened them in Replicator G software to center them in regards to the platform on the printer. I also used the program to mirror the left and right side frames, then I used Ultimaker’s Cura software to slice the fi le and get it ready for printing using Cura’s Quick Print “normal” se ing which worked out perfectly. For those of you who are using diff erent software or a diff erent printer, I would use the following se ings: Layer height: .02mm Shell thickness: .8mm Bo om/top layer thickness: 2mm Fill density: 100% Print speed: 80% Initial layer thickness: .2mm Temperature: I used 215 degrees C, but you might have to adjust depending on your fi lament and printer. The total print time for the frame parts was around 12 hours and I used roughly 12.28 meters of fi lament. The total weight of the frame was 81 grams. I printed the main frame bo om by itself and then I was able to arrange and print the remaining parts in one session. The Ultimaker 2 is a great printer for this project because it has a heated glass build bed that does not require any blue paint-ers tape or other hacks to get the part to stick properly. Couple that with the high reso-lution of the printer and you end up with a very high-quality fi nished part.

OUTFITTING THE SPIDEX MICRO

The original frame was designed for HobbyKing’s Multistar 1704-1900 motors,

but they were out of stock and after having so much fun and enjoy-ing the performance of the Lumenier QAV250 that we reviewed in the last issue, I con-tacted GetFPV.com to see what they recom-mended for this project. They supplied a set of RCX 1804-2400kV brush-less outrunners (2 CW and 2 CCW) and a set of Lumenier 12A ESCs with SimonK fi rmware. These are very powerful and fast li le motors.

I chose 5x3 Gemfan props, which seem to be the prop of choice for micro quads. The holes on the frame were not the same specifi cations for the RCX motors so I enlarged them with a Dremel tool and used washers on the screws. However, I have since modifi ed the frame to reposition the holes properly for these motors. When it came to the fl ight controller, I wanted something inexpensive, but with good fl ight qualities. I was going to use a KK2 board from HobbyKing, but I recently test-fl ew an HPHeli F450 Quad that used the HP Heli Super Multirotor Controller and I thought it fl ew amazing, especially when you consider it costs around $35. It also comes in a plastic case and is about the size of an aver-age receiver. I was trying to keep things light and space was limited on the quad. The setup and installation is easy, just connect the wires and adjust the dipswitches to assign your radio system and multirotor motor layout. The only other adjustment on the unit is a gain dial, which you can adjust to your liking. To control the Spidex Micro, I used a Spek-trum DX9 transmi er with a Spektrum R5200 receiver. I love this receiver because it is small and the antennas are less than an inch long; again, I am tight on space on this copter. I used a couple diff erent ba eries includ-ing the Turnigy 3S 1300mAh LiPo and and ElectriFly 3S 1000mAh LiPo. While the Turnigy pack off ered a couple additional

MULTIROTOR PILOT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 33 The Mobius Action Cam is used to record HD video while the Fatshark 600TVL is used for FPV.

I used my Ultimaker 2 3D Printer to print the parts .

I put a new microSD card in the Mobius camera and powered up the machine. I had a good clean FPV signal to the Attitudes. I started the Mobius recording and advanced the throttle. I did fl y the fi rst fl ight line of sight so I could make sure everything was okay. These motors with the Gemfan 5x3 props develop a lot of thrust. And to think I was worried about the machine being too heavy. These motors rocketed this 15-ounce quad around the sky like no tomorrow. It was extremely responsive and very nimble. There was some oscillation in the frame, which I later dialed out with the onboard gain adjustment. The fi rst test was a com-plete success. It was time for FPV with goggles. For the next fl ight I used the Attitude V2s and went for a ride. I actually thought it was easier to control fl ying FPV. I attribute this to the fact that the model is so small that is can be hard to see what it is doing and anticipate its next move when fl ying line of sight. In FPV mode, you can see and feel every bump. It really ate up the sky quickly, like a little FPV rocket ship. Its small size allowed me to get into tight spaces that I could not do with a larger copter. After about seven minutes, I was losing power and it was time to land. My landing was a little harder than I expected and I thought for sure I cracked something, but when I inspected the quad, it was in perfect shape. The PLA plastic held up well.

IN THE AIR

PILOT PROJECT I SPIDEX MICRO FPV QUADCOPTER

34 MULTIROTOR PILOT

minutes of fl ight time, the Electrifl y pack was lighter. Both ba eries performed excellent. FPV SETUP

The original Spidex Micro was designed to incor-porate a Mobius Action Cam as well as a separate FPV board camera. Normally, I would use a cable to send the video out from the Mobius to the video transmi er, but I actually prefer the FPV video quality of the Fatshark 600TVL cam-era to the Mobius. The exposure changes much more rapidly on the 600TVL. The camera, video transmi er and cables come with the Fatshark A itude V2 goggle set and everything is pre-ter-minated so it was quick to set up. The A itude V2 goggles are awesome and are only outper-formed by the new Fatshark Dominator HD goggles. The video transmi er outputs 250mW, which is more than enough for a pre y far reach with this micro quad. To power the FPV system, Fatshark comes with a balance tap board that allows you to plug the balance cable from the bat-tery into the system to power it while the main power cable connects directly to the ESCs.

ASSEMBLY

There is not a ton to say here as the frame liter-ally snaps together. Once I mounted the motors with their included screws, I tested each ESC to make sure the motors were spinning in the proper direction and then soldered the ESC out-put wires to the motor leads. I did not use bullet connectors because I wanted to tuck the wires under the ESCs in the cavity in the frame. Since the tolerances of the props in relation to the frame

are pre y tight, I needed to make sure that all the wires were neatly and securely tucked away from the prop’s arc. I did have to print a li le tray for the fl ight controller to rest on because the main frame has provisions for a fl ight controller that would be screwed to the frame where the HPHeli one does not. I also needed to tuck the power wires under it. So I quickly designed a simple tray that screws to the existing holes and a ached the fl ight con-troller using double-sided tape. Once the fl ight controller, ESCs and motors were secure, I snapped the rest of the frame together and a ached the FPV gear and the Mobius. Everything fi t as expected. There is not a lot of room on the frame, but the design accounts for all the equipment; everything has its place. Once everything was installed, I quickly checked the balance and it was perfect. I spooled up the motors slowly while holding the quad from the bo om and checked that everything was spinning correctly and that the controls on the radio were correct. It was ready to fl y.

THE LAST WORD

If you are looking to get into micro FPV quads, there are some really great machines on the market like the Lumenier QAV250, but if you are fortu-nate enough to own or have access to a 3D printer

then the Spidex Micro is a great alternative. The best part about 3D printed machines is that you can make your own spares. If you crash (and you will from time to time), for a few pennies worth of fi lament you can simply print your own replace-ments and be back in the air in no time. This is not a beginner machine; it is more of a hot rod, but if you have non-GPS quadcopter experience or GPS machines fl own in manual mode, then you will have a blast and love the ride you can get with this micro machine. For more information please visit multirotorpilotmag.com/spidex. �

CONTACTSELECTRIFLY greatplanes.com FATSHARK horizonhobby.com GEMFAN getfpv.com GETFPV getfpv.com HOBBYKING hobbyking.com HPHELI hobbypeople.netLUMENIER getfpv.com MOBIUS hobbyking.com SPEKTRUM spektrumrc.com TURNIGY hobbyking.com ULTIMAKER ultimaker.com YOUMAGINE youmagine.com


RCX 1804-2400Kv motors with Lumenier 12A ESCs with SimonK fi rmware and GemFan 5x3 props to power the model. All components are available from GetFPV.com.

The unique snap-together design of this frame makes replacing parts quick and easy.

36 MULTIROTOR PILOT

MULTIROTORFEATURE

by Erick Royer Photos Kyle Reyes

Looking up in the skies over the city of Milford,

CT, you might expect to see birds or airplanes, but on June 17th you would have seen something radically diff erent…a multirotor delivering chicken wings to a customer. Yes you heard me right; two pounds of hot and tasty chicken wings were fl own from the kitchen of The Tilted Kilt restaurant in Milford, Connecticut to a customer nearby. For those of you that are not familiar with The Tilted Kilt chain of restaurants, they are known for two main things: beautiful women dressed in red kilts and some amazingly good chicken wings. The restaurant concept has deep roots in keeping with the traditions from Scott ish, Irish and English pubs. The Celtic-themed restaurant came to life in Las Vegas, Nevada and now has over 100 locations across the country. The idea of delivering chicken wings started many months earlier when Amazon’s drone delivery commercial hit the mass media. Sara Vause, general manager of The Tilted Kilt of Milford saw an opportunity to do something that no other restaurant had done to date…deliver chicken wings via drone. That is when she reached out to Kyle Reyes of The Silent Partner Marketing located in Manchester, CT. Kyle is well known in Connecticut as “The outrageous marketing guy” who has personally launched some very successful (and viral) marketing campaigns for other restaurants and auto dealerships in the state. Kyle immediately envisioned the entire concept, from the fryer to the customer’s mouth. The missing link for him was the aerial delivery platform. I was contacted by Kyle via my good friend Chris who works for RC Hobbies and More, one of the largest hobby shops in New England, located in Winsted, CT. When I spoke to Kyle, the concept was simple; pick up the wings from

the restaurant and deliver them to the customer about a quarter mile away. Well it seemed simple enough. Aft er understanding the payload, I decided that my Sky Hero Spyder quadcopter (reviewed in this issue) would be the perfect delivery ship. With the canopy, it has a very clean and sleek appearance that I thought would look good in photos and on video. The day of the shoot, Multirotor Pilot Technical Editor Joe Papa off ered to come down to help me, at the

very least, with crowd control. When we arrived we assessed the area, paying att ention to roads, power lines, trees, buildings and most of all, people. The concept was to have the video appear to be fl ying a long distance over the city to the fi nal destination, but considering this was more of a stunt for marketing purposes for the restaurant than a practical delivery method that they wanted to

implement in short order, we considered all possibilities and decided to shoot this commercial in four steps.

LOADING THE CHICKEN WINGS

We att ached a GoPro camera to the arm of the Sky-Hero, facing forward to get a view of where it was heading. My original plan was to suspend the chicken wings from a bag under the machine, much like a stork carrying a baby sling, but when I saw the size and shape of the container, I removed the canopy of the Spyder and the large unobstructed fl at surface of the top frame was going to act as the delivery tray. We att ached the container securely to the copter and aft er taking some photos and video of The Tilted Kilt waitress placing the order onto the machine, she picked up the copter and walked it through the restaurant and out the front door to the “launch site.”

PREPARING FOR LAUNCH

From there, Kyle had two people on

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Chicken Wings!World’s fi rst aerial chicken wing delivery


the ground shooting HD video from Cannon 5D cameras. Aft er the waitress placed the Sky-Hero down, she “programmed the delivery location into her phone” and I began to fl y the copter towards the delivery location.

THE DELIVERY FLIGHT

Joe Papa fl ew his DJI 550 hexacopter with a new Zenmuse HD-3D gimbal and GoPro att ached (also reviewed in this issue), which allowed us to get some aerial video of the copter in fl ight. The video was taken over a series of tree lines away from people and traffi c, but the angle of the video both from the copter and from Joe’s 550 make it look like it was fl ying directly over the city…shots that took a lot of trial and error to get right while maintaining a perfectly safe fl ight area.

INTO THE CUSTOMER’S HANDS

We then chose a location across the parking lot and set up the customer to receive their order. The original quarter-mile location was not practical as it would require us fl ying over roads, traffi c and possibly, people. So we landed the machine where we took off and repositioned it at the delivery site and fl ew up and above the building to about 90 feet. From that point, the cameras started rolling again and I landed in front of the building where the customer happily received his order.

THE FINAL VIDEO

Kyle did an amazing job of both shooting and editing this video and his fi nal product was beyond what I expected. In the days following, aft er making the video live on Vimeo and YouTube, it was picked up

by many media outlets across the state and the country. Another successful and outrageous marketing campaign by The Silent Partner Marketing was starting to go viral, giving The Tilted Kilt a lot of exposure…success!

CAN THIS BE DONE FOR REAL?

This is the part of the article where I stir the pot, so to speak, as I am sure there will be a lot of people who challenge this, especially in light of the new FAA regulations banishing the commercial use of radio control aircraft . Taking that aside, yes, this certainly is possible. When you consider devices that are readily available, like the DJI Ground Station where you can use a Google Earth map and plot your waypoints to develop a fully automated fl ight, this is certainly possible. However, there are so many concerns that involve safety of people and property that I think we are years off from

seeing this become a reality…but maybe not as far off as some think. I predict that within the next fi ve years, you will start to see this sort of thing become a reality. We have the technology to make it happen now and refi nements are constantly being made every day. Earlier this year, Amazon let the world know that they are in development of aerial package delivery and since then, I have seen numerous companies cropping up with plans to deliver everything, from survival supplies to stranded people to routine medications. The FAA cannot stop the growth of this industry forever and in short order I am confi dent that they will iron out the regulations, permits and training as well as any other requirements that they deem necessary for commercial drone operations.

THE LAST WORD

Make no mistake; this entire marketing campaign was done in a controlled environment, away from people, cars or anything else that could be harmed in the event that there was a mechanical malfunction. A lot of time and care was taken to make the shots look the part. Both Joe and I have been fl ying radio control aircraft for over 20 years and both of us fl y in professional capacities and we understand what is required to set up a safe environment. Additionally, we worked with The Silent Partner Marketing on a volunteer basis and did not accept payment for any of the work we did. Our goal here was to promote the hobby and the magazine and show people something entertaining with multirotors in light of all the negative press that seems to scour the internet every day. I wish I could say that no chickens were harmed in the making of this video, but all I can say was that they were delicious!Please visit multirotorpilotmag.com/wings to see the video and some news media coverage of the event. You can leave us comments on that page as well. Next month, we deliver hamburgers! �

CONTACTSDJI empirerc.com

GOPRO gopro.com

SKY-HERO kdsmodelsusa.com

THE SILENT PARTNER MARKETING thesilentpartnermarketing.com

THE TILTED KILT tiltedkilt.com


GOPRO Part 2

38 MULTIROTOR PILOT

VISUAL TECHby John Kopec

In the last issue of MultiRotor Pilot

we talked all about the diff erent

frame rates and resolutions the Go-

Pro Hero3+ off ers and when and where you

should use the diff erent ones. You might

think you are ready to strap this thing on

and go skydiving, but there are a few more

se ings we should go over to help you get

the most out of your camera. In this article,

we will go over the rest of the options in

the camera such as white balance, fi eld of

views and when you are going to want to

enable Protune. Also, we will go over how

to upload your footage onto your computer

using the GoPro Studio computer applica-

tion and how to get started editing. So grab

your GoPro, a fresh ba ery and an empty

memory card and let’s get started!

Once we power up our GoPro, it defaults to the video mode, which we can see by the picture of the video camera. If we tap the power/mode bu on, we can cycle through the Photo, Burst Photo, and Time Lapse modes to get to the Se ings menu, signi-fi ed by a wrench. To get in the menu, we are going to push the top/record bu on on the camera. It takes some ge ing used to, having only two bu ons to navi-gate the menu, but with practice, you’ll be able to move around quickly and get where you need to go. Our fi rst window asks us to choose our resolution, frame rate and fi eld of view. For those that have missed the last article, let’s start with 1080p for a resolution. Not only is it the HD standard for broadcast television, but also it’s a manageable resolution for fi le sizes. You will fi nd that shooting at 2.7k will quickly eat through your memory cards. If you have access to a computer and can quickly and easily offl oad your card, this may not be an issue, but if you are on vacation with your family and are trying to squeeze every last second out of your card, 1080p is a solid choice. The choice between 24p and 30p is purely stylistic one; provided you aren’t going to be using your footage for broadcast TV, in which case

you’ll want to use 30, or most commonly spoken as 29.97. If you have the newest GoPro Hero3+, you’ll have four options for your fi eld of view: wide, medium, narrow, and the newest option being “ultra wide,” with a claimed 170 degree fi eld of view. While this is an impressively wide angle, know that you are going to have some “barrel distortion” on the outer edges of the frame, which will manifest itself by having images “stretched out.”

White Balance, Field of View, Protune and GoPro Studio

40 MULTIROTOR PILOT MULTIROTOR PILOT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 40

If this is undesirable to you, go ahead and switch to wide, medium and for li le or no barrel distortion, narrow. The next several win-dows will take us through our photo resolution size, burst modes and time lapse se ings, but for now we’ll skip ahead to Capture Se ings. Our fi rst option here is if we want to fl ip the image, in the event we fi lmed upside down. I usually don’t bother with this option, because this can easily be done inside of video editing software with a single click. The next option is Spot Meter Exposure. This is a pre y cool option because it’s giving us a li le control over the exposure. Normally, a GoPro camera takes a look at the whole frame and picks the average amount of light coming in to expose for. Most of the time this will work fi ne, but sometimes you’ll want to switch this option ON to get the best image. For example, if you are shooting from inside a car and you have the interior of the car in the foreground, you may fi nd that everything outside is overexposed, or “hot,” as we say in the business. This is because the GoPro made the decision to expose the inside properly, and it let the outside go hot. To fi x this problem, we are going to tell the camera to just look at the center of the frame and ig-nore the edges when exposing. Now, when we point it outside, we should get a nice, properly-exposed image. If we were to spin it around and frame someone up in the mid-dle, the GoPro will adjust to the person’s face. It is a pre y cool option if you want

to get the most of your camera. If we keep scrolling, we’ll see the option for Protune. GoPro heard the requests from the profes-sional community and added this very cool option. What Protune does is that it allows the camera to capture a wider dynamic range of light. Without ge ing bogged down in the technicalities, just think of it as the camera being able to capture more information in the highlights as well as the darks. However, what happens when you copy the footage and begin to watch your clips? They are all washed out and grey-looking. What hap-pened? Well, for those of us in the business, we call this a “fl at” image. A fl at image, used in these terms, means that more information was captured than normal, but we are going to have to do some post color correcting to bring back the sharpness and colors to where they should be. GoPro provide some LUTs, or Look Up Tables, in the preset portion of the GoPro Studio. We’ll go over this later and what steps should be taken. Now in theory, shooting in Protune and coloring your footage should equate to a more detailed and accurate coloring of your footage. However I should warn you, some trial and error will be necessary. You can easily get your footage looking oversaturated and just plain wrong if you incorrectly color your footage. Once you learn how and what the process entails, you will most likely shoot most things in Protune. While there are other options you can go through on your camera, that’s all we need to go over before we start shooting. Now that you’ve had some time to shoot that next viral, underwater, skating, slow-motion skydiving video with a scream-ing goat? Great, let’s start editing!

What you’ll want to do is connect your GoPro via the included USB cable into your computer and power it up. An alternative way is to pop out the microSD card and use a card reader a ached to your computer. Either way, you’ll see the card recognized by your computer. Go ahead and copy the whole card onto your hard drive, you’ll want to make sure you are editing the footage when it is located on your computer and not from the card. I should also mention that it is not only wise, but considered default that you keep a second copy of your footage on a separate drive for backup. Should you encounter a drive malfunction, theft, fi re or any other incident, you’ll want to make sure you have it safe. Some moments are not only expensive but also impossible to recapture. Ok, once you have the fi les on your com-puter and safety backed up, let’s start editing. To do so, we are going to launch GoPro Studio, a free application that you can down-load from their website. It’s a rather simple application, with three tabs to go through, or “Steps.” We can start by clicking the bu on: “Import New Files” on the left side. Navigate to your folder where you copied your card and select all the .mp4 fi les you want to edit. You’ll notice also there are .lrv and .thm fi les, but don’t worry about selecting those. They stand for low-resolution-version and thumb-nail fi les, but are not necessary for what we are doing. Once the fi les are imported, you have options for changing where they get sent for the fi rst process, if you want to fl ip and mirror the image, reduce barrel distor-tion and other options. Once you’ve chosen all your options, go ahead and press the “Add clip to conversion list” bu on, and click “Convert.” Once your clips are done con-verting, we can move on to the second step, “Edit,” which is where we can manipulate the speed, color, audio and even make some rough edits of our videos. We can also apply presets, or our LUTs, to our Protune-shot videos to get them looking colored and sharp from their native fl at and soft image. Once we’ve fi nished tweaking, we can do our fi nal export by clicking the Step 3 bu on called “Export” and pick a preset for where we’d like the video to go: Vimeo, YouTube, etc. Once that long progress bar fi nishes up, voila, we are done. Time to upl oad online and get those likes! Happy shooting. �

CONTACTSGOPRO gopro.com


You can see the effect that barrel distortion causes in this brick pattern.

VISUAL TECH I GOPRO PART 2

I have been looking for quad that has the ability to carry not only a GoPro with a gimbal, but something larger like a Sony NEX5 or Panasonic GH2. I wanted it to be easy to see in fl ight

and have the ability to fold eff ortlessly for transport. The Sky-Hero Spyder fi t the bill on all counts. The Spyder comes in three sizes; 700mm, 850mm and 1000mm. They also sell upgrade kits that allow you to change your Spyder to a diff erent size. The design and motor layout of the Sky-Hero multirotors really intrigued me because they seem like they would be very easy to maintain orientation in fl ight and the frame design and canopy provide a very clean looking machine. The Sky-Hero multirotors are extremely well-constructed; using high-quality 2mm carbon fi ber main frame plates and 30mm carbon fi ber booms. The landing gear is made from 20mm carbon fi ber booms,

SKY-HERO

The world’s most versatile quad

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Sky-Hero

DISTRIBUTOR: KDS Models USA

TYPE: 700mm quadcopter

FOR: Intermediate to advanced pilots

PRICE: $599.00 (airframe only), Sky-Hero Combo 2 - $600.00 (4 motors, 4 ESCs, 4 propellers, wire harness and

a DJI Naza V2 with GPS)

42 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWWords Erick Royer Photos by Joe Papa

SPYDER


which provide a very solid footing for the machine. The injection molded plastic parts for the motor mounts, frame spacers, landing gear mounts and landing gear bracket are very solid and durable. Until you hold them in your hands, it is hard to describe how robust they really are. It would take an extremely hard impact to damage these components. The Spyder is fi nished off with a beautiful, high-quality white fi berglass canopy, which you can paint any color you like.

Author’s OpinionThere have been few multirotors that have crossed my path that I’ve stopped to admire at great length; the Sky-Hero Spyder was one of those select few when I saw it at a trade show earlier this year. The Spyder is the best fl ying quad that I have ever used. Its design makes it easy to see and maintain orientation in the air and the wide layout of the front arms make it the perfect machine for mounting a camera and gimbal because you don’t need to worry about the props or arms getting into the fi eld of view. The construction is solid and the folding design makes it easy to transport in just about any car.

SPECSWEIGHT: XXX lbs.

DIAMETER: 700mm

RADIO SYSTEM: Flown with a JR XG14E tray radio and a JR RG831 8-channel DMSS receiver

MOTORS: (4) Sky-Hero 470Kv 6S brushless outrunner (included in Combo 2 kit)

ESCS: (4) Sky-Hero 40 amp 6S (included in Combo 2 kit)

PROPELLERS: (4) Sky-Hero 13x6.5 carbon (included in Combo 2 kit)

FLIGHT CONTROLLER: DJI Naza V2 with GPS (included in Combo 2 kit)

BATTERY: Thunder Power 6S 5000mAh 25C LiPo

FLIGHT TIME: 9-11 minutes (average)

FEATURES Robust frame with 2mm carbon fi ber

main plates and 30mm carbon booms.

Very durable, injection-molded plastic motor mounts and landing gear mounts.

Flight controller mounting options include mounting between the main frames, thus protecting it from crashes.

28mm to 36mm brushless motor mounting options.

Four-motor layout can be easily converted to an X8 with 8 motors by purchasing the Combo 1.

Easily-removable dampened camera/ battery mounting plate that can accommodate a wide variety of gimbals and camera systems.

Tool-less folding capability.

PROS Solid construction with high-quality

components

Versatile design that can be adapted to your specifi c needs

Very cool-looking design makes it easy to maintain orientation in fl ight

CONS Instructions are diffi cult to understand

(PDF only)

Included power wire harnesses in the combo kits have too much wire–I suggest cutting and modifying them or adding a power distribution board

I setup the DJI Naza-M V2 fl ight controller as instructed for the X quad confi guration, which is fairly simple thanks to the intuitive Naza-M Assistant software. I was not sure about the gain settings, so I started with the DJI recommendations and using a BTU Bluetooth unit, I was able to refi ne the settings in fl ight to get optimal performance. I also assigned the remote gains to one of the sliders on my JR XG14E so I could adjust it while in fl ight based on the wind conditions and payload. I always take off in attitude mode, which I fi nd lets the machine lift up much smoother. I started with a 6S battery and no camera/gimbal to see how it was going to respond. Honestly, it fl ew better than I expected. It is very stable and predictable. The motor/prop combo gives the Spyder a lot of authority. The design, as I predicted, made it very easy to see and maintain orientation in fl ight. It was as easy as fl ying an airplane. Typically, symmetrical quads can be very diffi cult to see unless you add LEDs or denote the front arms with different color props or booms and even then, as it gets farther away, it becomes more diffi cult to see the colors. The Spyder was easy to maintain even at long distances. The fl ight characteristics were great and I attribute much of that to the DJI

Naza-V2 fl ight controller. It is a very solid platform that provides excellent stability with reliable failsafe features like return to home. Using a 6S 5000mAh LiPo battery, I was able to get fl ight times of around 12-14 minutes. Since my plan was to use this machine to take GoPro video from the air, I installed the new DJI Zenmuse H3-HD 3-axis gimbal on the front of the copter. Even with the wide width of the arms, on extreme yaw movements the blades would come into view because the gimbal offers 3-axis stabilization. So using my Ultimaker 2 printer, I designed and 3D-printed a mounting platform that attaches to the front of the copter. By moving the camera out more, I was able to eliminate the props from view. While the machine performed fl awlessly, I do want to upgrade to the X8 layout so I have the redundancy in case a motor fails. Even with the GoPro, it is still almost $800 worth of camera/gimbal that is strapped to the copter. I want to take every precaution I can to ensure that everything comes home safe after every fl ight.

PILOT REVIEW I SKY-HERO SPYDER

IN THE AIR

44 MULTIROTOR PILOT

I got my Spyder with a Combo 2 kit, which includes four 470Kv 6S brushless outrunner motors, four 40A ESCs, four carbon fi ber 13x6 props, a power wire harness and a DJI Naza-V2 fl ight controller with GPS. The only thing you need to supply is a batt ery and radio systems of at least six channels. The batt ery/camera tray is rubber-dampened and easily removable with four aluminum thumbscrews. The copter can be easily folded without any tools; simply remove four thumbscrews from the booms and it folds compact. The legs are held in with a plastic compression fi tt ing. You can quickly remove them when needed for storage or transport without any tools. You have a lot of fl exibility when installing the electronics. There is a lot of room in between the top and bott om frame plates, on top of

the top frame plate (under the canopy and on top of the batt ery/camera tray). I personally like to place the controller between the frames so that it is protected in the event of a crash. The motor mounts accommodate 28mm to 36mm size motors. The best part of the Spyder is that you can set it up as a four-motor quadcopter or as an X8 quad.

FOUR OR EIGHT MOTORS?

Some may argue about the advantages and disadvantages of coaxial multirotors. Many feel that just because you have two motors on each arm does not mean you have twice the lift ing capacity, which is true. On average, you can see

between 35 and 50 percent more lift ing capacity of a coaxial system…far off from what you might assume. So why use a coaxial motor setup?

The Sky-Hero motor mounts allow for a wide range of motors as well as a co-axial motor confi guration.

The main reason is redundancy. Should you lose a motor in fl ight, you still have the other motor on that arm to fl y the machine safely back to the ground. The other reason to use a coaxial motor setup is because the counter-rotating design makes the copter fl y much bett er in higher winds. Just like a coaxial RC helicopter is perfect for beginners because of the inherent stability of the counter rotating blades, the same holds true for the multirotor with this setup. When you look at the prop surface area of a large 1,000mm octocopter with 16-inch or larger props, there is a lot of disk area that can be aff ected by the wind. With the eight-motor Spyder, we are using four sets of 13-inch props giving us a much smaller disk area, and the counter-rotating props slice though the wind much more eff ectively. The downside of this confi guration is that you need to have enough batt ery power to supply eight motors; however, the lower motor gets a lot of help from the prop wash of the upper prop, causing it to draw less current. The top motors do tend to run hott er in this setup because they are doing the majority of the work. The optimal setup would be to run larger props on the bott om. For our initial tests we ran the Spyder with a standard four-motor quad layout. While I tested the machine with a camera and gimbal, I would not install a high-end camera or use the machine for any kind of professional work without converting it to an X8, coaxial layout. We are planning on upgrading this machine in the future and plan to report on it in the next issue.

ASSEMBLY

The Sky-Hero machines are not diffi cult to assemble, especially if you have experience with other machines. However, the manual is

not aimed for a beginner. The instructions are only available in PDF form and are subpar, especially when compared to the high quality of their machines. The manual does have color photos, but the mentions of hardware and the order of assembly left me scratching my head for a while. I turned to Google Images and found some assembled photos that other owners posted and they helped me determine which holes to use and gave me a bett er idea of which screws to use and where. Aft er fi guring out which screws went where and the proper holes in the frames to use, I am confi dent that I can get this machine from box to fl ight-ready in a couple of hours. To be clear, it is not hard to assemble as the fi t of all the components is fl awless, but the instructions make it a bit confusing. When you assemble the motors on the mounts, be sure to use the outermost holes of the motors and use a washer and threadlock on each screw. Since the ESCs install inside the tubes, and if you choose the X8, coaxial confi guration, it will require you to have two ESCs stacked on top of each other, but slightly off set inside the tubes. This is probably the most diffi cult part of the assembly. Thankfully Allen at KDS Models shot a very helpful video that explains the best way to get these ESCs installed in the boom. If you follow his tips, the motor mounts and ESCs will slide right into position. There are a lot of screws that hold the top frame plate to the copter and if you choose to install your electronics inside the frame, please be sure to test everything prior to putt ing that top frame on. This includes testing the motors to ensure that everything is in the correct position. Be sure to mount the LED in a place where you can easily see it from the rear of the model and where you can easily get to the USB jack so you can set up and tune the fl ight controller with your computer. The stock landing gear gives you about six inches of clearance under the copter, which is more than adequate if you plan to use a GoPro with a gimbal. However if you are looking to install a larger camera and gimbal, you might need to extend the legs. Additionally, the landing legs are fi xed and, as of this writing, the market is still lacking a retract solution for the Sky-Hero models.

THE LAST WORD

Whether you are looking for a high-quality sport quadcopter or an ultra-reliable and ultra-stable aerial camera platform, the Sky-Hero Spyder will be an excellent choice. As I said in my Author’s Opinion, it is, to date, my favorite quad. It’s stable, versatile and powerful enough for any small to mid-size camera work. It also serves as a great chicken wing delivery machine (see article in this issue). The Sky-Hero machines are very high-quality and the ability to run a variety of motor combinations makes it that much more att ractive. Of course you can’t go wrong outfi tt ing the Spyder with the Sky-Hero Combo 2 kit. �

CONTACTSJR AMERICAS jramericas.com

KDS MODELS USA kdsmodelsusa.com

SKY-HERO sky-hero.com



There is a lot of room inside the frames to install the fl ight controller and radio electronics. This is a nice feature because they are protected in the event of a crash.

The Naza-M V2 GPS is the heart of the stability on the Spyder.

46 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PRODUCT REVIEW

by Joe Papa

I’ve been active in the RC industry

since I was 12 years old. In the

past 28 years, I’ve used countless

chargers; with some be er than others.

Over the last few years, LiPo packs have

progressed considerably, yet so many

are still waiting an hour for their packs

to be charged. While some are avoiding

faster charge rates out of fear, others are

completely unaware faster options exist. If

you’re in either category, this review will

be a game changer for you!

A LITTLE ON LIPO’S

Most LiPo packs can be charged at 3C – 5C rates. Check your LiPo label to confi rm if yours are compatible. To calculate the max charge rate, use this formula:• mAh/1,000 x max charge rate on label• 5000mah /1,000 = 5 x 5C rate = 25 amps max charge current• My Pulse 6S 22000mAh packs have a max charge rate of 3C• 22,000/1,000 = 22 x 3 = 66 amps max charge current

While some may be concerned about charging at these higher rates, the fact is that these newer packs are designed for it. Charging at higher rates is not only safe with the Revolectrix char-ger, but it’s completely foolproof. The most destructive practice with LiPo chemistry packs is over-discharging, which instantly leads to puffi ng. It’s not the higher charge rates you should be worried about, but rather your LiPo voltage cut off se ing on your ESC or fl ight controller. The Revolectrix Dual Powerlab 8 is the safest, fastest and most reliable charger I have ever owned. It’s also the easiest to use, nearly foolproof, very intelligent and dead reliable. Each half of the DPL8 is a stand alone, fully functional charger capable of charging LiPo packs up to 8S (8 cells), as well as any other ba ery chemistry currently in use. With a maximum charge rate of 40 amps per side, the charger can get you up to full charge fi ve times faster, or in as li le as eight minutes.

Dual PowerLab 8 2688w Battery Workstation

The only charger you’ll ever need!

Revolectrix


POWER SUPPLY

To get the most out of this powerhouse with 5-8S LiPo’s, a power supply with 24VDC is recommended, but the charger can run on 10-48 volts. This gives the end user enormous fl exibility in the fi eld and these higher voltage power supplies al-low the Powerlab to work with much less input current. To power my charger, I am using a pair of Revolectrix Power Stations (one per channel). Each power supply can put out 24V at 55 amps plus they have two 12V 15 amp outputs for a total of 1320 wa s on 110VAC; enough power to run the charger at its maximum capacity.

CONNECTIONS

The charger inputs are delivered with EC5 connectors, which I chose to remove in favor of some XT150 connectors. There are no charge leads included with the charger or balance boards, but you will need both. Make sure you get the ones specifi c to your needs or you will be one unhappy camper when you open the box. We opted for the, Multi-Port Adapter, a parallel adapter equipped with polyfuses to protect every cell. This allows us to charge up to six packs at the same time on each charger. These boards can even be daisy-chained together to allow up to 12 packs of the same voltage be charged simultaneously on each side.

MENUS/INTERFACE AND SETUP

When you fi rst power up the charger, the fi rmware version is displayed. Press “enter” and the Powerlab will ask you to confi rm that you are using a power supply. If you are using a ba ery for a power supply, pressing the up arrow will allow you to switch. After confi rming, the presets become available. My standard selection is number 3 (LiPo high power). With up to 50 programmable presets and the fi rst 25 already confi gured for most user’s needs, simply press the up arrow to choose the one you need. To modify a preset, press and hold the up and down arrows at the same time and you can alter the default charge rate as well as other parameters should you like. With the ba eries connect-

ed, press enter to choose the preset. The charger will ask you if you have ba ery packs in parallel. Set the correct number of packs if more than one and press enter. The number of cells in your pack will automatically be detected, so you don’t need multiple presets for each LiPo voltage, which is such a timesaver. On other chargers, I often ran out of presets because this

feature wasn’t available. Next is charge rate, followed by discharge rate. Change them if you want or simply continue pressing enter to move along. The charger will then ask you to confi rm that you want to start charging. Press enter again and the charger will quickly analyze the pack and will ask you to confi rm this is a LiPo pack. Press enter to confi rm and the charge cycle begins. If you have nothing to change, you simply press enter through all the options and you’re charging in a few seconds. During the fi rst minute, the internal resistance is calculat-ed. If anything seems out of the expected range that the charger is expecting, the charge cycle

PER-CHANNEL SPECSFOR BATTERY TYPES: Lithium Polymer (1S to 8S

balanced, 1S to 2S unbalanced), Lithium Ion (1S to

8S balanced, 1S to 2S unbalanced), Lithium Manga-

nese (1S to 8S balanced, 1S to 2S unbalanced), A123

(LiFePO4) (1S to 8S balanced, 1S to 9S unbalanced),

NiCd (1S to 21S), NiMH (1S to 21S), 6V, 12V, 24V

Lead Acid batteries (Flooded, Gel, AGM, SLA)

INPUT VOLTAGE: Each channel may be oper-

ated on separate power supplies using 110V/15A

isolated circuits for best results. Additionally both

channels may be operated on one power supply pro-

vided packs on each channel are isolated.

PACK CAPACITY: 20mAh to 360mAh

INPUT VOLTAGE: 10-48VDC, reverse polarity protected

INPUT CURRENT: 1A to 40A, software limited

POWER CONVERSION: Synchronous DC/DC con-

verter supports multiple switcher frequencies of

31.25KHz, 62.5KHz, 125KHz; user selectable by

preset, 85% to 93% effi ciency depending on out-

put current

OUTPUT BATTERY CHARGE CURRENT: Adjustable range 10mA to 40A, limited by 40A input

current*

OUTPUT BATTERY DISCHARGE CURRENT: Internal discharge 10mA to 10A, 95W max Regen-

erative discharge 10mA to 40A, 1344W max**

CONTINUOUS MAX OUTPUT POWER: 408W @

+12VDC input, 1344W @ +39.53VDC

CELL BALANCING: Resolution 78uV (16 bit) for

1S-8S Li or A123 (LiFePO4) balanced charging

VOLTAGE CALIBRATION: Cell voltage measure-

ments are factory calibrated to a standard traceable

to NIST; calibration is to +/- 6 mV

CURRENT CALIBRATION: Charge current is fac-

tory calibrated on a 4A standard; calibration is to

+/- 1mA

COOLING FANS: 13 CFM, 50mm diameter

HEATSINK: Internal 120W aluminum, thin fi nned

OUTPUT BATTERY CONNECTOR: “Cellpro” com-

patible, JST PA series, 9 positions

LCD: 2 line, 16 character, light grey/blue backlit

SIZE: 10.24 in. (260mm) L x 5.55 in. (141mm) W x

3.08 in. (77mm) H

* Please note, for safety reasons, available char-

ger current may be limited for certain battery

types and/or charging modes, e.g., non-balanced

charge of LiPo

Revolectrix Power Stations provide 1320 watts to each channel of the Dual Powerlab 8.

Battery clamps are provided so you can use a car battery as a power supply.

58 MULTIROTOR PILOT

will stop. If the voltage of the cells is below 3V per cell, the Revolectrix charger will enter a low current charge rate called “Low Voltage Restore.” Yes, the charger can save over-dis-charged pack! For the ultimate in safety, charging without a balancer isn’t possible except for very small packs with very low ca-pacity. The balance boards have auto-rese ing solid-state breakers and every charge lead is protected with a 40 amp fuse. There is reverse polarity protection and if you are using a 12V ba ery as a power supply, when discharging LiPo packs down to the recommended 50 percent level for long term storage, the charger can use the LiPo power to regenerate the lead acid ba ery and charge it at the same time.

CHARGE CONTROL SOFTWARE

Smart power management allows you to select between programmable input power sources. Using the Charge Control Software (CCS), you can choose from several templates to get you close and then fi ne tune your se ings. Avail-able se ings in the CCS include power supply input current limit, input low voltage limit, regenerative discharge rate and voltage limit. The DPL8 stores one setup for power supply per channel and one for ba ery per channel and asks for verifi cation one time on start-up. The CCS allows you to initiate charge, discharge, monitor and multiple cycles at the DPL8 or via remote control from the CCS. You can graph all major operations when using CCS and when you use both channels you can

launch separate instances of the CCS within Windows. Its open architecture presets allow for customization of any user preset.

THE LAST WORD

While I’ve only scratched the surface of all the charger’s capabilities and features, I use it ev-ery day and hammer it hard. Every charge cy-cle is at full power and the 6S packs we fl y all get charged at the highest output possible. The new Pulse 22,000 packs, which can be charged at 3C max (66 amps), are one of the fi rst packs to be able to handle more current than this charger can supply. Even so, with each pack on its own charger at 40 amps, we can get these monster packs fully charged from 15 percent in under 28 minutes. Recently in St. Lucia, we fl ew all day with a London-based production crew and never depleted our fl ight packs before the ones on the charger were done. We were able to stay in the air almost constantly. For guys fl ying helicopters on 8S or 12S packs, 1/5-scale brushless car junkies or even a hard-core racer running multiple classes, this charger will keep you on time for your heats and even reduce the number of packs you need to own. �

CONTACT

REVOLECTRIX revolectrix.com


PRODUCT REVIEW I REVOLECTRIX DUAL POWERLAB 8 BATTERY WORKSTATION

I used a Multi-Port parallel adapter equipped with polyfuses to protect every cell for each channel, which allows me to charge up to 6 batteries of the same cell count at one time.

MUL

TIRO

TORP

ILOTM

AG.C

OMY

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OU

RC

E F

OR

A

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S M

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OR

Voice, Color & Touch!

Electric Air Telemetry Module

When our engineers were tasked to design the next generation Graupner radio, they knew integral telem-etry was the key to the future and they named the future HoTT, for Hopping Telemetry Transmission.

Our HoTT radios and products have been providing a streamlined user experience where ease of use is guaranteed due to precision integration of our HoTT telem-etry protocol across all of our products. Our entire receiver line provides telemetry functions such as temperature, voltage, and signal strength out of the box, with no need to add or purchase additional components.

With over 50 HoTT enabled products such as car, boat, airplane and heli ESC’s, motor and engine modules, as well as variometer, GPS sensors, and a new Bluetooth module for displaying all this telemetry on tablets and SmartPhones, we provide our users with almost unlimited possibilities to be connected to their models. To top that, our HoTT PRO receivers also provide three axis flight stabiliza-tion and flybarless control all in the same low profile, smart HoTT package—no additional black boxes to squeeze in.

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I’ve been bitt en by the micro FPV quad bug lately. I can’t get enough of my Lumenier QAV250. It is so fast and maneuverable that I can enjoy FPV fl ying just about anywhere. I use a Mobius Action Cam on it to record HD video of my fl ights and for the most part

I am happy with the results. As much as I love it however, I do wish I could add a GoPro and brushless gimbal to the 250 for even bett er video footage but the quad is too small. So aft er visit-ing getfpv.com and taking a look at other options, I discovered the Lumenier QAV400 FPV Quad. The frame is larger and can utilize a GPS-enabled fl ight controller with large enough motors to support the weight of a GoPro FPV setup. Then I found out that they make a custom brushless 2-axis gimbal that specifi cally integrates into this quad, so I had to have it! It was as if Santa was answering my Christ-mas list. The QAV400 is considerably larger, but it is only 150mm wider overall. Most of the size comes from the length so it is still a perfect frame to get FPV fl ights in some of the tight areas that I love to fl y. With the new brushless gimbal option, I can now get spectacular GoPro Hero3 footage that is

400mm FPV hot rod!

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Lumenier

DISTRIBUTOR: GetFPV.com

TYPE: 400mm FPV H-Quad


PRICE: $164.00 (frame only)

52 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWWords Joe Cannavo

QAV400 FPVQUADCOPTER

PHOTOS BY DANIEL ROYER AND ERICK ROYER


perfectly stable. No more dizzying rides in front of my big screen TV. When equipped with a GPS fl ight controller like the DJI Naza-M V2, the QAV400 lends itself well to being a perfect machine for all kinds of aerial video work, along with search and rescue and more. It is a very robust frame that handles well in wind. The frame is also easy to see and maintain orientation in fl ight, unlike a typical X quad. The QAV400 is sold in a kit form but you can also buy it from getfpv.com fully assembled, which is how mine came. While I did not experience the assembly process, I did look through the manual, which is highly detailed with excellent close-up color photos. Having assembled a lot of quads, most of which having manuals that are lacking, this build seems very straightforward. There are a lot of stand-off s and screws, so just make sure you have a clean work area and I recommend work-ing on a rubber mat or a white towel so you don’t

SPECSREADY TO FLY WEIGHT: 44 oz.

SIZE: 400mm (motor shaft to motor shaft)

BATTERY: Lumenier 3300mAh 4S 14.8V LiPo

RADIO: Hitec 9X with Hitec Optima 7 receiver

MOTORS: (4) Lumenier FX2216-9 1100kv brushless outrunners

ESCS: (4) Lumenier 30 amp ESCs with SimonK fi rmware

PROPS: (4) Graupner 8x5 e-props

FLIGHT CONTROLLER: DJI Naza V2 with GPS

GIMBAL: Lumenier QAV Quick-Mount Brushless Gimbal Unit (Plug & Play)

FPV CAMERA: Fatshark 600TVL

VIDEO CAMERA: GoPro Hero3+ Black edition

FPV VIDEO: ImmersionRC 600mW 5.8GHz transmitter

FPV GROUND STATION: Lumenier 10.1 inch LCD with 32Ch Diversity receiver

FPV GOGGLES: Fatshark Attitude V2

NEED TO COMPLETE: Four 2216 1100kv motors, four 30A ESCs, four 8x5 props, 3300mAh 4S LiPo and fl ight controller, Lumenier carbon fi ber landing gear

FEATURES Thick and durable G10 main frame.

Anodized aluminum booms.

Bumpers on the end of the arms protect the motors during a crash.

Integrated power distribution board for ESCs and FPV electronics.

Easy LiPo access.

Long fl ight time with 3300mAh 4S LiPo.

Optional brushless gimbal makes the QAV400 an excellent aerial video machine.

Powerful yet effi cient Lumenier FX2216-9 1000kv brushless outrunner motors power the QAV400 and provide amazing performance.

Right: Lumenier’s Quick-Detach 2-Axis Brush-less Gimbal for the GoPro Hero3 fi ts perfectly on the front of the frame. It can be removed or reattached in 20 seconds or less.

I had a beautiful day for test fl ying the QAV400; it was warm and sunny with a slight breeze. I put a freshly-charged battery onto the frame and waited for the Naza to initialize and fi nd satellites and its home position. Then I activated the motors and moved the throttle to center stick. The model launched into the air, a lot faster than I expected. There is a lot of available power from these motors which, when combined with the Graupner 8x5 props, develops an obscene amount of lift. My fi rst fl ight was line of sight only. I wanted to get a feel for the machine, especially in manual fl ight mode. I also wanted to make sure that it was properly trimmed and that the gains were to my liking. It is a great fl ying machine. The design of the frame and layout of the arms make it very easy to see and maintain orientation in the air. I was completely impressed. I mentioned the power that it had with the Lumenier motors, but what I did not mention was how that translated into speed. This machine was quick. Flying line of sight, I swiftly ate up my entire available fi eld in a fl ash. It was time to switch to FPV mode. The next fl ight was done with a pair of Fatshark Atti-tude V2 video goggles. It was time to go for a ride, and what a ride it was. I actually did the FPV ride two dif-ferent ways. The fi rst way, I attached a small Fatshark FPV camera to the front of the copter, under the gimbal and used the video from that camera to send to my goggles and just used the GoPro to record the fl ight. I did this because with the camera fi xed to the frame and not stabilized, I got to experience the attitude of the frame in relation to the horizon and the ground at all times. This is the optimum setup for full-on FPV fl ying with goggles. For the second fl ight, I used the video output from the GoPro and the experience was quite different. When using the video from the gimbal/GoPro, the ride is much smoother. However, because of that you can’t tell if you are banking or pitching the machine because the gimbal is working to keep the camera level with the horizon at all times. It was great for being in a wide-open area, but I would not fl y this way in tight spaces. Flying with the FPV camera was incredible. While not for the faint of heart, the experience is exhilarating to say the least. You can feel every command input and every bank, turn and bump from the machine. You can quickly maneuver in and out of tight spaces with author-

ity. It is nice to have the GPS available as a backup. One time I had trouble seeing because my goggles were fogging up and I was able to simply hit the fl ight mode switch to GPS and it was sitting in space without any input from me while I wiped by goggles. The last fl ight I did was using a ground station monitor; a Lumenier 10.1 inch LCD monitor with a built-in 32-channel diversity antenna. I had this monitor mounted on a tripod. This time I was concentrating on fl ying line of sight while framing my shots with the monitor. I programmed a slider on the 9X to control the gimbal pitch control so I could perform

smooth video transitions as I fl ew. This is the common setup for fl ying aerial video and photo jobs like real estate. The machine was very stable as I was in GPS mode just about the entire time. I do like to use attitude mode so I can slide the copter around for smooth sweeping shots. After fl ying a couple of battery packs this way and examining the footage, I was convinced that this machine would work perfectly for this application. It rivals that of any 400-550 size machines I have ever fl own.

PILOT REVIEW I LUMENIER QAV400 FPV QUADCOPTER

54 MULTIROTOR PILOT

have to worry about screws fl ying off the bench and gett ing lost on the fl oor.

THE FRAME

The Lumenier QAV400 is made from rugged G10 material. And the booms

IN THE AIR

The four ESCs are mounted between the lower two frame plates. The top plate doubles as a power distribution board with solder tabs that makes wiring power to all the electronics easy and keeps the instal-lation clean.

are made from CNC-ma-chined anodized alumi-num…there is no fl exing on this machine! The frame consists of four horizontal plates. The bott om plate is att ached to the power distri-bution plate via aluminum stand off s, which has solder points for all the ESCs as well as two additional ones on either side for powering FPV gear, LEDs, or other electronics. The booms are att ached to these two plates and four carbon legs support the quad on the ground; one is att ached to each boom via an alumi-num bracket. The four ESCs are installed between the two bott om plates, which makes the wiring very neat. Only the three motor wires run down each boom. The top two plates are also separated via aluminum spacers. The fl ight controller, radio gear, batt ery and gimbal att ach to these two plates. The top two frame plates are att ached to the lower two via rubber dampener standoff s. This is called a Clean/Dirty Airframe Seperation which is trademarked by Lumenier. It isolates vibration from the motors, allowing for stable video quality, especially when you are not using a gimbal. When using a gimbal these dampeners work to prevent “Jell-O” in the video…and they work very well as my video quality was perfect.

THE POWER SYSTEM

To power the QAV400, I chose four Lumenier 2216-1100Kv brushless outrunner motors with four Lumenier 30A ESCs using SimonK fi rm-ware. The motors are spinning four Graupner 8x5 E-props. This is a very potent power combo for this quad. It provides tons of power and speed while still having very effi cient run times of around 10 minutes with a Lumenier 4S 3300mAh LiPo batt ery pack.

FLIGHT CONTROLLER AND RADIO SYSTEM

Since there was plenty of room on this frame and these motors were not going to have any issue with me adding an extra ounce or two to the quad, I decided that I wanted a stable GPS fl ight controller so I installed a DJI Naza-M V2, which I love in many of my other ma-chines. While this is an FPV machine, if I choose to take advantage of its versatility and use it as an aerial video platform, I wanted to have features such as GPS hold, return to home and intelligent orientation control (IOC). When fl ying all-out high-speed FPV, the controller can be switched to manual mode for a wide fl ight envelope, but I still have the confi dence that GPS is there with the fl ip of a switch. The fl ight controller is mounted between the top two frames so it is pro-tected in the event of a crash. To control the quad I used a Hitec 9X computer radio system with a Hitec Optima 7 receiver. I have become a huge fan of the Hitec 9X over the past several months. I love the programmability and capacity to confi gure the sliders and switches to various functions on my machine. The 9X is a very responsive radio system which it key when you are fl ying very fast FPV just inches away from obstacles like trees and rocks.

THE GIMBAL

The Lumenier QAV Quick-Mount Brushless Gimbal is available in a kit or Plug & Play form. The Plug & Play gimbal comes pre-assembled with a genuine AlexMos gimbal controller that is tuned with Basecam. The gimbal sits on the front of the frame upside-down with the camera above. Because of the wide stance of the front arms and the location of the GoPro, you don’t need to worry about the props gett ing into the video. The gimbal is made from machined alumi-num and anodized with a beautiful black fi nish. It is controlled by high quality GX2208 brushless gimbal motors from Lumenier. A

30-pin GoPro connector is installed on the back of the mount-ing bracket to allow you to charge the camera and it provides a standard video output to feed directly into your video transmitt er. The gimbal uses a quick-att ach system which allows you to install and remove it in about 20 seconds. The all up weight of the gimbal with the GoPro is around 250 grams. I used an ImmersionRC 600mW 5.8GHz video transmitt er to send the video to my goggles/ground station.

THE CASE

GetFPV.com has worked with Go Professional Cases to develop a custom and extremely rugged travel case for the QAV400. Inside the case is a water jet-cut foam insert that fi ts the frame perfectly. There is also plenty of room for several batt eries, the radio and many other accessories.

THE LAST WORD

My excitement for the QAV400 started because I could use their gimbal to get ultra-stable GoPro video of my fl ights, but it ended with me realizing that this could be an excellent machine for aerial photo, video and even search-and-rescue work. The frame is very robust and strong and it can accept a wide variety of power systems, though I recommend the setup I used for the best in power and effi ciency. If you love FPV fl ying and would like something that can carry a gimbal while still fl ying like a hot rod, then the QAV400 is a top choice. �

CONTACTS DJI NAZA-M getfpv.com

FATSHARK horizonhobby.com

GETFPV.COM getfpv.com

HITEC hitecrcd.com

IMMERSIONRC getfpv.com

LUMENIER lumenier.com



The Lumenier QAV Quick-Mount Brushless Gimbal comes in both a kit and Plug & Play form. It uses a genuine AlexMos controller and provides amazingly stable GoPro video. It also can be attached and removed in a matter of seconds.

56 MULTIROTOR PILOT

DemolitionDerby

Story and photos by Petr Hejl

Motor sports rank high on the list of America’s favorite pastimes and the multirotor aircraft offers

a great platform and seemingly endless possibilities to get some incredible shots of the action from never-before-seen vantage points. Being a bit of a motor-head myself, I could not pass on the opportunity to fly over and film the Demolition Derby and Double Figure Eight Race, organized by JM

Productions, at the 2014 Goshen Stampede in Goshen, Connecticut. My “weapon of choice” for this project was my DJI F550 with T-motor upgrade (for more agility) and a GoPro Hero3 Black in DJI Zenmuse H3-3D 3-axis gimbal. The F550 is a great single-operator machine that offers the redundancy of a hexcopter (unlike its quadcopter siblings, it maintains flight even if one prop/motor/ESC fails), it is

small enough not to intimidate people, yet large enough to easily carry a GoPro and offer good stability in windy conditions. Its price also means one doesn’t have to wait until next Christmas in the event that the machine is damaged, which may be an important consideration for something brought to a demolition derby. This was a bit of a premiere for my H3-3D gimbal (I’ve flown H3-2D before), so I spent

Smash ‘em up, crash ‘em up!

... a View From aboVe


an afternoon “practicing” and getting used to the third-axis-follow mode by parking my own car in the middle of a field and flying around it at all possible altitudes and angles. The stabilization capabilities of the H3-3D are simply amazing, but the “delay” that the third-axis-follow mode adds to the pan takes a bit of getting used to when trying to frame the shots circling around objects. Much needed disclosure: I am an expe-rienced pilot and carry a UAV operator liability insurance policy. I did not get com-pensated in any way for creating this video. It was made for others to enjoy and to be a part of my portfolio. I encourage anyone getting into the UAS aerial videography to

practice flying in different environments and away from people before attempting to fly at larger spectator events. I highly recommend acquiring liability insurance in case something happens to go wrong. On the “menu” for the afternoon, there were a few rounds of figure-eight demoli-tion derby races and a few rounds of classic demolition derby. While the objective of the demolition derby is pure destruction until the last car moving wins, the figure eight race winner is the first one to complete eight laps (which may not seem like much, but every lap means at least two good

opportunities to get t-boned out of the race). I set up on the side of the track that allowed me the best view of the entire area and after a compass calibration, I flew a practice bat-tery pack to get familiar with it from above. Since this was a spectator event, I had to figure out how to capture what I needed while staying safely away from the specta-tor areas. Before the show, we put on a little “drone” exhibition for the spectators, which was received quite enthusiastically. Watching the demolition derby from above was quite spectacular. Since the track was fairly small, I had no problem framing in

entire sections, slowly moving the copter in various directions to add a bit of a motion feel while waiting for the action rather than follow-ing the cars around the track. The beauty of the demolition derby is that none of the drivers care about the copter getting too close, so I was able to get some pretty cool action shots of wild crashes and slick maneuvers, while having fun watching the cars slowly disinte-grate as they progressed through the race. The copter happened to catch a few muddy roosts from the cars wheels and the props ensured even distribution of the mud splatters all over the machine. When I got it back, it was literally dripping mud (reminded me a bit of my 1/10-scale RC short course truck after an off-road race) and it took over an hour and a box of Q-tips to clean it properly. A small price to pay for all the fun and cool videos.

CONTACTNOTADRONE notadrone.com


The professional aerial cinema arena is no place for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Multirotors designed for

this extreme market are expected to fl y camera gear valued easily at over $100,000. When outfi tt ed with follow focus, HD transmitt er, remote zoom and gimbal, the AUW (all up weight in the air) can approach 50 pounds or more. While many of the components that go into a pro heavy-lift cinema rig may be easily recognizable, the airframe is the foundation that harnesses the power and defi nes these

extreme machines. Gryphon Dynamics, a Korean manufacturer of professional airframes, has recently entered this market and captivated me with their

jewel-like appearance and astonishing strength. Until recently, most pros have stuck with the Freefl y Cinestar or Droidworx SkyJib. While certainly proven time and time again, I was a bit turned off by

the lack of portability, as traveling with these beasts is inherently part of nearly every job.

FEATURES

Gryphon Dynamics GD-X8 is a coaxial octocopter. Though it appears to be a quad design, the eight motors allow this copter to maintain the redundancy of a fl at octocopter,

GRYPHON DYNAMICS

The massive, heavy-lift quad

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER/DISTRIBUTOR:

Gryphon Dynamics

TYPE: 1400mm X8

FOR: Professional, heavy-lift applications

PRICE: $3,149.00 (frame only)

58 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWWords Joe Papa

Photos Joe Papa & John Kopec

GD-X8 1400MM FOLDING FRAME


without the limitations of motor and prop size associated with the traditional design. Having more space between the props adds considerable stability in windy conditions and can accommodate up to a 32-inch prop. It’s also one of the only airframes strong enough for the mind-bending power of the T-Motor U11, U10, U8 and U7 brushless motors that have recently hit the market. The Gryphon is available as a “durable frame” or a “folding frame.” The durable frame is strong enough to support the weight of a full-size adult. Since I didn’t expect to be lift ing 175 pounds, I opted for the folding model and kicked in for the FX model, which included the upgraded 2mm center plates as well as the absolutely stunning coaxial motor mounts that fi t theses monster power plants now available.

FOLDING BOOMS

Utilizing a brilliant design, the inner and outer booms connect when a

concave pin enters a precision bore. By turning the

red anodized latch, a

steel shaft engages the

concaved pin and locks

the booms together. The inner and outer

booms also have a male/female interlocking shape which makes the

connection nearly bulletproof.

UNBOXING

When it arrived, my fi rst impression was that the box was lighter in weight than expected. All those aluminum parts should be heavy. To my delight, all the parts were very well-lightened and pocketed in just the right places to eliminate excess weight while retaining strength. All the hardware is stainless steel. The carbon fi ber booms are a sight to behold. Large enough to accommodate most ESCs inside, the booms are a tall hexagonal design nearly two inches in height. This not only contributes to its savage strength, but also its aerodynamics. The Gryphon booms are a combination of a roll wrap process on the inside and a traditional weave on

SPECSFRAME SIZE: 1400mm (motor shaft to motor shaft)

WEIGHT: 14 lbs. (without camera and gimbal)

MOTORS: (8) T-Motor 490kV U7 brushless outrunners

ESCS: (8) T-Motor 70A HV Pro

PROPS: (4) T-Motor 17x5.8 for upper motors and 18x6.1 for lower motors

BATTERIES: (2) Pulse 6S 22000mAh LiPos

FLIGHT CONTROLLER: DJI A2

RADIO: Futaba 14SG with a Futaba R7008SB S.Bus receiver

Red Dragon and Cook 14mm prime lens on a Movi M10 gimbal.

To make adjustments during fl ight possible, I assigned the basic gains to the Futaba center LD (left dial) and the Attitude gains to the RD. With no payload, these gains were suitable, but from a conversation with Gryphon Dynamics, the long arms on the 1400mm X8 respond well to even higher basic gains, but lower attitude. With a payload, Gryphon recommended I use 280 for all basic gain settings. Before takeoff, I set the CG (center of gravity) for the A2’s IMU and GPS. With a payload, these numbers will change considerably and it’s so important to not overlook these adjustments. After an epic GPS dance with this nearly six-foot frame, I spooled her up and in attitude settled into a nice hover. After about 15 seconds in the air I smiled and noticed how quiet and stable it was. With no payload, I estimated in E-Calc that the U7 motors would hover at just about 20 percent throttle. This low rpm was very easy on the db scale. Hovering just feet away, I was able to talk with my friend at a normal level effortlessly. I blipped the throttle and watched the X8 climb, then pulled back hard on the throttle to see it descend. In disbelief, I nearly jumped for joy as the X8 lowered as if it were a Hollywood Jib. There was simply no evidence of any wobble or oscillation at all. This is one of the biggest advantages of an X8 Octo over all other current designs. Its absolutely astonishing fl ight characteristics are inherently stable due to the large distance between the props. After 20 minutes of hovering and basic movements, I landed and immediately checked the motor temps. The U7’s were barely warmer than the ambient temperature outside. I connected the battery to the charger and only replaced 13000mAh into the 16000mAh test battery. Since we would be running 44000mAh during normal fl ight, the possibilities here are staggering. For the next test fl ight, I called my partner John and told him to bring over the Movi M10 and Red Epic. Before mounting up this legendary cinema pro set-up, we wanted to get a baseline of fl ight time with just the two pulse packs and no camera. With cars stopping and a crowd forming, we took some time to answer questions and explain our tests to the onlookers. With an AUW of 25 pounds, I started to watch the ESC temps on the telemetry screen. With the fans off and static hovering, the temps seemed stable at around 140 degrees. While this may seem high, the normal operating range is actually as high as about 210 degrees. Knowing that we still had a camera and gimbal to add on, I was glad the fans were there. I clicked the toggle switch on my transmitter and within seconds, the temps dropped to just 110. After a full 30 minutes of fl ight, I landed and was absolutely amazed to fi nd 40 percent still remained in the Pulse packs. We made the adjustments to the A2’s center of gravity, mounted both Pulse packs and rotated the 14SG’s left dial to get basic gains up to the recommended setting of 280. In the air, the additional payload was barely noticeable. We logged 12 minutes of fl ight, including some full throttle pull ups, and still had 36 percent remaining when we landed. With the Pulse packs not even broken in, there is no question that more than 15 minutes of fl ight with a Red Epic or Red Dragon camera is possible. Considering the cinema world is accustomed to about 4-6 minutes max, this is truly a monumental accomplishment.

PILOT REVIEW I GRYPHON DYNAMICS GD-X8

60 MULTIROTOR PILOT

the outside. Roll wrap process is exceptional for structures that need rigidity in multiple directions. The fi nish is exceptional and requires nothing prior to assembly. These booms are fl ex-proof and should be incredible at damping vibrations.

THE POWER SYSTEM

My fi rst choice to power this monster was going to be the T-Motor U10 series with 12S LiPos and 29-inch carbon fi ber props. Due to lack in availability, we sett led on the 490Kv U7 motors with 17x5.8 and 18x6.1 props for the review. T-Motor recommends that this motor be paired with their 80 amp 6S ESC. Since we were going for a no-compromise approach here, we opted for their fl agship 70amp HV Pro ESC, complete with heatsinks and 12S capability needed for the U10.

ASSEMBLY

The build started with the coaxial motor mounts and each motor was bolted to the fl at black plates. The black plates fi t precisely into a “U” shaped red anodized piece. The assembly then bolts to the aluminum cap that fi ts on the end of the boom and the process is repeated for the lower motor. To add considerable strength to the entire assembly, a square piece fi ts into the front to join the top and bott om together. Before fi tt ing this to the boom end, two small components are bolted temporarily to the end cap, so that when bolted in from the side the carbon structure is clamped together. The fi nal assembly is the most rigid motor mount I have ever seen and the distance between the upper and lower props is larger than other frames in this class. This helps recover some of the effi ciency lost in a coaxial design. The Gryphon product is a pleasure to assemble. The parts fi t together with go/no-go clearance, which means that they are so perfectly sized that any additional material would no longer allow the parts to fi t into one another. There are no tooling marks or surface imperfections. Truly a testament to precision craft smanship, the Gryphon frame is the Bugatt i Veyron of the multirotor world. The lower plate includes 12mm rails and aluminum mounts with the standard 155mm spacing to allow for easy mounting

The top plate can be removed quickly to access the eight ESCs.

The bullet proof coaxial mount is direct fi t for T-Motor U7 - U11 brushless motors.

After a bit of research and much deliberation, I dialed in the A2 for the following gain settings.

BASIC ATTITUDEPitch: 225 Pitch: 100Roll: 225 Roll: 100Yaw: 225 Altitude: 100

IN THE AIR


of popular gimbals and accessories. All DJI Zenmuse and DSLR gimbals are a direct fi t. To keep the center of gravity as close to the IMU as possible, two carbon fi ber plates mount on red anodized stand-off s over the upper plate. Their position is adjustable side to side. Also included in our kit was the Gryphon landing gear; however it isn’t a retracting style, so we opted to keep it for another time. It is benefi cial to point out that while the tubes for the gear are only 20mm instead of the more typical 25mm, Gryphon’s superior construction techniques makes their smaller diameter tubes surprisingly strong.

ELECTRONICS

With the ESC’s installed on the inner booms, I added a set of Castle Creations 40mm fans to each, as well as a Futaba telemetry temp sensor for peace of mind. The DJI A2 IMU was mounted on the top plate for easy access and the A2 main controller took residence on the inner boom just outside the center. To keep the GPS antenna as far from the electronics as possible, I used a couple of DJI components to make a super durable mount from a 12mm tube. When traveling, the lower clamp can be released and the tube slides down to allow easy transport.

BATTERIES

When fl ying a DSLR in the past, generally we fl ew three 5000mAh 6S LiPos in parallel for a total of 15000mAh. That batt ery setup weighed about six pounds, added a lot of extra connections and was good for only around 12 minutes of fl ight. Today’s batt ery technology is opening up new possibilities. The 6S Pulse 22000mAh packs we chose for this project each weigh approximately six pounds, yield nearly 32 percent more capacity for the same weight, yet take up considerably less space than the equivalent number of 5000mAh packs. Previously, I would have had to try to fi t nearly nine 5000mAh packs on top to equal the energy from two Pulse packs. The Pulse batt eries save me almost six pounds and simplify my charging process.

DJI A2 MOTOR MIXER

The default motor mixer confi guration for the X8 Octo on the A2 is a bit limiting. Normally each motor spins the opposite direction from its neighbor, but on a coaxial setup, all the top props spin counterclockwise and all the lower ones spin clockwise. This does make it very easy to keep all these motors straight in your head and when performing a motor test with the DJI App from my iPhone, 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the upper and 5, 6, 7 and 8 are the lower. The problem is that most enthusiasts know that to overcome some of the effi ciency loss in the

coaxial confi guration, it’s recommended to use a prop one inch shorter on the upper motors. When the T-Motor 17- and 18-inch props arrived, each pair included a left and right hand rotation blade, and I realized that I needed all left 17-inch and all right 18-inch. To overcome this issue, my options were a custom motor mix in the A2 or to simply alternate upper and lower motors and

make the direction of rotation mimic the DJI rotation. Regardless of the method you may choose, they are all less expensive than buying 16 props and not using half of them.

THE LAST WORD

Though some fi nd the Gryphon design to be over-engineered, I like knowing it’s stronger than it needs to be without being heavier than I’d like. During all my fl ights, we never experienced a component fail or anything loosening and despite being a folding design, the booms are more rigid and reliable than any other folding copter I’ve seen. For those wanting the ultimate in strength, the lower cost and durable design allows easy breakdown and transport by removing only four screws per arm. While

the Gryphon isn’t the only large X8 frame available, its incredible construction and stunning appearance make it a top contender in the pro market, and is competitively priced with the others in this class. If you want to set yourself apart by off ering your client smoother footage, larger payload capacity and record fl ight time, check out the Gryphon Dynamics product line today. �

CONTACTS CASTLE CREATIONS castlecreations.com

DJI empirerc.com

FUTABA futaba-rc.com

GRYPHON DYNAMICS gryphondynamics.co.kr

PULSE helidirect.com

T-MOTOR getfpv.com


I used some extra DJI components that I had lying around to create a 12mm carbon tube GPS mount.

Pulse 22,000mAh packs save weight and space compared to the equivalent capacity in 5,000mAh packs.

The DJI A2 fl ight controller running fi rmware 2.3 is the heart of the Gryphon. The A2 is the only controller I trust on our large and expensive camera rigs.

The Gryphon was used on a commercial shoot in the carribean. It carried a Red Dragon and a Movi gimbal.

One of the most anticipated arrivals of this season in the amateur AP (aerial photography) market was

indeed the three-axis DJI H3-3D gimbal for the GoPro Hero camera line. DJI has practically mastered the technique of working up the anticipation by the usual long wait time between the product announcement and its release. Its two-axis predecessor had become a “gold standard” in GoPro stabilization last year for its capabilities, easy installation and setup, and the two-axis gimbal market was quickly fl ooded by many other manufacturers. Some three-axis gimbals started arriving on the

market late last year, but these were mostly Basecam board-controlled gimbals that didn’t really off er a great platform for beginners or anyone looking for a gimbal that was easy to set up and operate. To me, DJI is like the Apple of the

multirotor world. Their equipment is well-manufactured, works great and off ers fairly intuitive user interface. However, it does not off er as many options and possibilities to customize

its functions as some of the competing products do, such as diff erent control modes for tilt or any control of the yaw axis (for two-operator setup). While the

third-axis stabilization works fl awlessly, it only off ers follow-mode with no possible control of the yaw. The functional angle of the yaw axis is about 35 degrees, which seems plenty for a follow-mode gimbal. Two-operator setup is possible in home or course-lock modes while allowing the camera operator to control the yaw axis of the copter and tilt of the gimbal, how-ever this style of use is a bit limited and impractical.

INSTALLATION

My platform of choice for a GoPro camera is a DJI F550 Hexcopter with Aero-X-Craft landing gear. The H3-3D replaced my H3-2D and the installation was a breeze. I positioned the gimbal forward and as low as I could to avoid props in view even under a heavy pitch forward. The gimbal connects to the GCU (Gim-bal Control Unit) via an 8-wire ribbon and the GCU connects to the Can-Bus port on the PMU (Power Management Unit) of

62 MULTIROTOR PILOT

DJI

PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT

by Petr Hejl Photos Petr Hejl & Joe Papa

H3-3D GimbalWHAT’S IN THE BOX Gimbal GCU (gimbal control unit) GCU-to-gimbal wire ribbon Mounting bracket Rubber vibration dampeners Extra GoPro USB plug and ribbon Video-out cable Screws

PROS Easy to install and set up

Clean design, great materials and fi nish

Really, really, really smooth

Great value for the price

Uses fl ight controller’s IMU sensors to operate

GCU works on 2-6S battery

CONS Limited tilt control, absence of any speed

adjustment and stick rate mode

Third axis in follow-mode only, two operator setup almost impossible

The ribbon connecting to the GoPro can easily be damaged

Only works with DJI Flight Control systems

»NEED TO KNOW

The smoothest GoPro footage yet!


the Naza system. It is important to mention that this gimbal will only work with DJI fl ight control systems. The video feeds from the GCU unit via a “headphone jack” and simply connects to the video transmitt er (or an OSD unit if used). The box contains a few diff erent rubber dampening blocks which vary in soft ness. I used the white/soft blocks for mine and am happy with the results as there is absolutely no “Jell-O” in the picture. While the rub-ber blocks help alleviate the “Jell-O,” the best way to eliminate it is to keep the props balanced using a good balancer. Clear plastic lock pins are provided to help keep the gimbal in place in case of a hard landing or crash. Without being secured by these pins, the blocks pop off easily, which may result in dam-age to your gimbal or camera. The pins may also interfere with the yaw motion of the gimbal if not installed properly so pay close att ention to this when installing your own. The GoPro is held in by a bracket secured by two screws while a mini-USB plug along with a ribbon is provided to plug the GoPro into the gimbal. This plug feeds 5V into the camera and feeds the video out to the transmitt er. The ribbon is quite delicate and could break easily if not installed or handled properly. DJI provides one extra ribbon and plug in the box. I downloaded the gimbal assistant app from DJI’s website, plugged into the GCU via USB port and installed the necessary upgrades. Then, I made sure my Naza fi rmware was up-to-date and performed the advanced calibration using the Tools tab in the Naza assistant app. All fi rmware must be up-to-date and the IMU calibrated for the gimbal to perform well. Without doing this, it may not level properly or it can slowly drift in one direction. The gimbal tilt control is assigned to the X1 port on the Naza control-ler, so I assigned a lever on my Futaba transmitt er to a channel control-ling the X1. The tilt control only works in a “position” mode, where the position of the gimbal matches the position of the lever. It moves between positions at constant (and fast) speed and this makes it impossible to achieve slow and smooth tilts. On Futaba controllers (14SG) with a Multirotor menu, the speed of tilt can be set in “Servo Speed” menu. On other Futaba models (8FG), the speed of the gimbal tilt can be adjusted by sett ing up the channel as “motor.” This will still not deliver the smooth-ness and control of the “stick rate” mode (mode in which the position of the lever decides the speed of the tilt in corresponding direction. The lever needs to be brought back to center to stop the tilt motion in desired position), but allows it to slow down and some-what adjust the speed of the gimbal tilt. To me, the tilt control is the biggest drawback to this excellent gimbal, I feel that DJI has a litt le bit of catching up to do with their “cheaper” competitors who seem to have fi gured this feature out in a much bett er way.

IN FLIGHT

The gimbal goes through a quick calibration “dance” when powered on. It is possible to push the butt ons on the GoPro with the gimbal on, if too much pressure is applied, the gimbal locks out for a second and comes right back on. The gimbal acts a bit wild when performing the Naza-dance (compass calibration), but it does not seem to hurt it. When I took off with this gimbal for the fi rst time, I simply could not

believe how smooth it was. Even with me deliberately shaking the copter, the image on the screen looked as if it was “frozen.” Aft er spend-ing a season fl ying with two-axis gimbals, the third axis follow-mode took a bit gett ing used to as it adds a slight “delay” to the pan (yaw) motion. When framing the shots using the screen, the pan motion of the image no longer matches the yaw motion of the copter. Aft er a bit of a practice I managed to account for this by remembering not to be overly aggressive on the yaw stick input and stop the yaw a few degrees

before the point at which I needed to stop the camera. This gimbal uses the Naza fl ight controller’s IMU sensor input, which helps achieve im-mediate response to any movement of the copter. As I previously noted, the only big limitation of this gimbal is the tilt function which only works in stick position mode. While it is still possible to adjust the speed on some RC transmitt ers, I would like to see such adjustments possible through the assistant app, along with the stick rate mode option off ered by most competitors. I also noticed that the gimbal will start to slightly “wobble” when tilted directly down and the copter on full roll (fl own sideways at maximum angle) in the “att i” fl ight mode. It will not behave this way when fl own in full pitch, or smaller roll angles. This observation is based on two diff erent gimbals on two diff erent machines. I also man-aged to lock the gimbal out a few times by performing some fairly brisk maneuvers. The gimbal disables the motors when too much pressure is applied to them, protecting itself from damage to the electronics, be it during crash or if too much pressure is applied while trying to press the GoPro butt ons. It resets aft er couple of seconds without a need to land and restart by unplugging it. I was quite blown away when I saw the footage from my fi rst fl ight with the H3-3D. I recorded it in 2.7K Wide (GoPro Hero3+ Black), played it back on the 27-inch screen and saw absolutely no wobbles or “Jell-O” in the picture. I have never seen such a smooth footage out of my GoPro before.

THE LAST WORD

This gimbal saves a lot of time over the two-axis gimbals by removing the annoying side-to-side wobbles that can ruin the shot and make us want to repeat the same shot many times to get the perfect frame. It off ers the ability to obtain very-long and smooth shots that have only been reserved for larger cameras and more expensive gimbals before and does so at a reasonable price. It is a no-brainer for anyone looking to stabilize a GoPro on smaller frame copters with single-operator setup. It is easy to install and nicely integrates with DJI fl ight control systems. It is prett y amazing to see DJI evolve in just one year from a $700 two-axis Zenmuse to this litt le 3-axis marvel at half the price. Well done DJI…well done indeed. � CONTACTS DJI empirerc.com NOTADRONE notadrone.com


64 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PRODUCT REVIEW

by Joe Cannavo Photos by Walter Sidas

Have you always wanted to give

FPV fl ying a shot, but perhaps the

expense of the mainstream goggles on

the market has scared you off ? There are a lot

of DIY solutions on the internet where people

modify a pair of ski goggles and make a home-

made shroud with a small video monitor and

while some may work well, I have not seen too

many that don’t look hokey. HobbyKing just

released the new Quanum DIY FPV Goggles

that can bring the FPV experience to you for

less than 30 bucks. Of course, you still need a

video camera, transmi er and a receiver, but

you can certainly get started with FPV fl ying

for around half the cost of other FPV video

goggle solutions in the market.

The goggles come as a kit that will take you 20 minutes or so to make fl ight-ready. In the kit you get a EPP foam housing, head strap, adhesive foam strips to custom fi t to your face, a Fresnel lens and of course, the heart of the goggles, a non-blue screen 4.3-inch TFT monitor. The Fresnel lens is adjustable to your preference, giving you a crystal-clear picture with a minimal viewing distance. Three lenses are included so you can fi nd the most comfortable viewing experience. The monitor gives you a clear, bright, non-blue image at 480dpi resolution and can be set-up to either the 16:9 or 4:3 video formats. It works with either PAL or NTSC, so you are set no ma er what part of the world

you live in. There is a provision on the top of the frame for an optional top head strap. Due to the curved design of the top case, you can even a ach the goggles to the brim of your favorite ball cap. The monitor uses standard RCA plugs for video and it comes with a mini JST plug for connecting to a ba ery.

ASSEMBLY TIPS

• I tried all three lenses and I made sure to use a couple pieces of Scotch tape to hold my preferred lens in place on the lens holder.

• After a aching the lens holder tabs with CA glue, I used my Dremel tool to shorten them by about 8mm so I could easily

DIY FPV Goggle Set with Monitor

FPV for under $30 bucks!

Quanum

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Quanum

DISTRIBUTOR: HobbyKing

PRICE: $29.99 (International Warehouse)


slide the frame out if I ever needed to change the lens.

• The yellow RCA jack is the main video-in feed. There are no speakers on the monitor, which made me believe that the white is NOT for audio. I connect-ed a video feed to it and it turns out that it is actually a second video input. Although I am not sure why you would need that, at least you know that it is not for audio.

• I powered my goggles with both a 2S LiPo from a pair of FatShark goggles that I had as well as a 3S 1200mAh LiPo and both worked fl awlessly.

HOW DO THEY WORK?

I have spent a lot of time fl ying FPV both FatShark and Zeiss Cinemizer FPV goggles and they both provide a diff erent experience and both work very well. I wasn’t sure how I would like the design and video quality, but I was excited to fi nd out. I spent a li le while adjusting them with the adhesive foam strips and head strap until the fi t was comfortable. They are very light (around seven ounces); much lighter than they look, so they were comfortable and didn’t feel heavy on my face. I applied a video feed to them via an Immer-sion 5.8GHz video receiver. The video was coming from a Mobius action camera and transmi ed by an Immersion 5.8GHz 600mW transmi er. The video quality was very good. It took me a few minutes of fi ddling with the lens to adjust it properly to the clearest picture. Once I did, the experience was very diff erent than the Zeiss or FatShark goggles. The screen seemed much larger and closer to my face, which made it easy to make out details. It’s like si ing in the front row of a movie theater, compared to si ing 10 rows back with the FatSharks and 20 rows back with the Zeiss.

I am sure they did not look too sexy on my face. It was kind of like having a small foam cooler a ached to my face, but what did I care? I am not looking at me; I am concentrat-ing on the video inside the goggles. It was hard for me to consciously pick these goggles apart and fi nd negative things to say because I had to keep remind-

ing myself that they are only 30 bucks. I

tried my fi rst fl ight with a FPV multirotor

and I enjoyed the experi-ence. I had no problem making out

objects and the fi eld of view was great. The monitor was surprisingly clear despite only being 480dpi. One thing I did really like about them was that they did not seem to fog up. It was pre y warm and humid the fi rst day I tried them and usually

halfway through the fi rst fl ight, my other goggles fog up and can make it diffi cult to make out the screen, but on these I did not have any fogging issues despite the fact

that my head was sweating.

THE LAST WORD

For 30 dollars how can you go wrong? They assemble quickly and are lightweight with a very good picture quality. They don’t have an integrated video receiver but in many cases, that’s be er because you have more fl exibility as to what you use them with. They worked great for FPV fl ying and also make an extra second set of eyes for taking spectators along for the ride. �

CONTACTSIMMERSION RC hobbyking.com QUANUM hobbyking.com


SPECSMONITOR SCREEN: Non-blue

TFT LCD SCREEN SIZE: 4.3 in. (16:9 or

4:3 switchable)

FORMAT: PAL/NTSC supported

SUPPLY VOLTAGE: 7-13 VDC

RESOLUTION: 480 pixels

FRESNEL LENS: 3X and 4X included

SIZE: 140x95x120mm

WEIGHT: 6.9 oz.

The Blade 350 QX is my go-to machine for grabbing a few quick flights at lunch, whether it's for aerial video or FPV. I always

keep it on the back seat of my SUV along with a few battery packs, a DX6i transmitter and a charger. It is not uncommon in my vehicle to hear items hitting the back floor when I have to stop abruptly and I always worry about “car rash” or broken

blades from just having it sitting there. Blade recently introduced a new carry case for the 350 QX which solved my problems and allows me to safely store it in my vehicle, having everything

neatly at the ready come lunch time. The case is very durable brushed aluminum with bright graphics, the foam insert is cut to accept the 350 QX with a long landing gear and it will be ready for the new gimbal-equipped 350 QX2 AP combo that will be released soon. It holds up to six flight batteries, each in their own pocket. There are additional spots to hold the charger, tools, spare blades and other accessories. Best of all, it has a special area designed to hold Spektrum transmitters, from the DX5e to the DX18. I love this case (almost as much as I love my Blade 350 QX) and it now has a permanent spot in my vehicle. Part# BLH7849, Price: $139.99 �

CONTACT BLADE bladehelis.com. For more information, please see our source guide on page 89.

66 MULTIROTOR PILOT

CARRY CASE350 QX

BLADE

PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT

by Joe Cannavo

Heli-Max has been producing aff ordable, quality quadcopters for some time now with the latest addition being the 230 Si. It’s a mid-size quadcopter packing a ton of great features such as several fl ight modes to choose from that will appeal to just about everyone’s

fl ying preferences. The 230 Si also has a LED light setup integrated into the arms which would be good for low-light fl ying conditions. The frame and landing

gear appear to have a solid construction and should be able to take a few tumbles before any major damage could occur. All the other accessories were neatly packed away separately and easy to locate.

IN THE AIR

With a fully charged pack, I decided to try the 230 Si outside in my front yard fi rst to give myself plenty of room for maneuvers until I became more comfortable with the machine and its fl ying characteristics.

HELI-MAX

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Heli-Max

DISTRIBUTOR: Hobbico

TYPE: RTF quadcopter

FOR: Everyone

PRICE: $179.97

68 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWWords Eric Jordon

Photos Candy Jordon

230 Si SERIOUS FUN FOR ALL QUAD PILOTS

The 230 Si lined up next to its smaller camera carrying sibling, the 1 Si, for size comparison. The sleek new canopy is rigid plastic to protect all the internal components.

In Auto Hover mode, the 230 Si reaches a maximum altitude of 10 feet off the ground, keeping the limits of the little quad in check for novice pilots.


Sliding the thrott le slowly up, the blades began to spin and the quadcopter was rising off the ground in just a few quick seconds. I immediately found that hovering the 230 Si was a no-brainer, as the 3-axis gyro system works perfectly. I moved the right stick on the controller up and began doing some slow forward fl ight in low rates, making large circles around the yard. Aft er a couple passes, I can say that in low rates a novice pilot would be well in their comfort zone, as the 230 Si was very stable. Coming back to a hover, I tried pirouett es in

both directions. The quad handled the pirouett es well and I was already thinking that it was time to put it through its paces. Switching to high rates, I began with fast forward fl ight, making sharper turns while navigating around the yard. The bank angle was defi nitely greater in high rates and I did a couple of fi gure-eight maneuvers with ease. My confi dence level grew with each pass and I was quite happy with the performance of the quadcopter so far. Perhaps the best part about the 230 Si is the diff erent modes it utilizes for fl ight. There is a limited altitude hold mode that will limit the height at which the machine will fl y, an altitude hold mode to assist in capturing steady video or pictures and a return to pilot mode in case orientation is lost. Quite handy for novice pilots. The onboard camera is able to capture still images in JPEG format or video that is recorded in AVI format at 1280x720 resolution at 30 fps. The pictures and video are stored on a micro SD card that can be transferred easily to a PC.

THE LAST WORD

Let’s tally this one up. The 230 Si is a durable litt le machine that is fun to fl y for all skill levels and can be obtained with or without a camera for under 200 hundred bucks. I’d say Heli-Max hit the nail on the head with this one. There’s no setup to do, simply charge the batt ery, power everything up and start having fun with this diminutive beast. Small machine, small price…Big Fun! �

CONTACTSHELI-MAX helimax-rc.com

HOBBICO hobbico.com


SPECSFLYING WEIGHT (without camera): 127g (4.4 oz.)

FLYING WEIGHT (with camera): 132g (4.7 oz.)

LENGTH: 306mm (12.05 in.)

HEIGHT: 75mm (2.95 in.)

WIDTH: 306mm (12.05 in.)

DIAGONAL DIMENSIONS: 230mm (9.1 in.)

ROTOR DIAMETER: 144mm (5.7 in.)

RADIO: HMX 465 SLT 4-channel 2.4GHz

GYRO: TAGS-FX 3-axis gyro with three accelerometers

DURATION: Up to 15 minutes

BATTERY: Heli-Max 1S 3.7V 1200mAh LiPo

FEATURES The Heli-Max 230 Si has Actual

Direction Control. When turned on, the quadcopter will go in the direction that you move the sticks no matter what the orientation is.

There are a few different fl ight control modes to assist in orientation, altitude and position hold.

The transmitter has built-in beginner and expert fl ight modes, giving you choices that best fi t your fl ying preferences and skill level.

PROS Beginner and expert fl ight modes

Fail-safe feature if radio signal is lost

Solid construction which can handle bumpy landings

LED lighting system is great for orientation during low-light fl ying

Optional on-board camera

CONS Flight mode indications are easy to

mix up at fi rst so keep the manual close at hand on the maiden

Author’s OpinionI was very impressed with the way this mini quadcopter handled. Indoor fl ying was a little tight in my living room, but I had no problems whatsoever out in the yard. The 230 Si is also very durable, being able to withstand bumpy landings and keep on going. With beginner and expert fl ight modes, virtually anyone could have a great fi rst fl ight with the 230 Si. Being ready to fl y out of the box was a big plus as there was no assembly required. Just install the four “AA” batteries in the transmitter, charge the fl ight battery and the fun begins.

The LED lights that are mounted on the bottoms of the arms of the 230 Si really give it low-light and night fl ying capabilities.

70 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

by Jon R. Barnes

Part of the draw of this hobby, and

for that ma er ANY hobby, is the

challenge to improve. Most of us

enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that

comes from being able to do something that

was previously beyond the scope of our abili-

ties. The sheer variety of genres that exist with-

in the radio control hobby, coupled with the

impressive technological advances of the last

few decades, has managed to keep me both

smi en and passionately engaged for most of

my adult life. One area in which I have always

found myself lacking is helicopters. Though I

have owned both nitro and electric helis over

the years, I have never suffi ciently focused my

a ention on developing my heli profi ciency

to any respectable level. About a year ago, I

decided that it was high time to address that

defi ciency and made a decided and deter-

mined eff ort to start logging regular, daily

fl ights. On top of that, I have recently found

myself extremely a racted to and aff ected by

the multirotor rage. My interests in them are

mostly related to the fact that they are truly a

game changer when it comes to being able to

shoot near-Hollywood quality aerial photogra-

phy and videography on a budget. There are

many diff erences and similarities to fl ying

helis and multirotor aircraft but in the end,

fl ying both of them led me to the realization

that it was time to make some wholesale

changes in the way that I have approached my

fl ying for the last three decades.

The age-old, burning question when it comes to RC fl ying styles is: thumbs or pinchers? For my entire life of RC fl ight, I have been solidly rooted in the former…two thumbs perched atop the radio sticks while the rest of my fi ngers hold the trans-mi er. The other style of fl ying involves pinching the radio sticks between your thumbs and forefi ngers. And I stuck with

my method for all of these years mainly because it just felt right for me. I read every article in Fly RC magazine each month, mainly because I am still hungry to learn and I quite often glean new tips and techniques from my peers and the experiences of others. A few months back, I read an article where Dave Sco , touted as the world’s most experienced RC fl ight instructor, summarily said that one of the fi rst things that he teaches his students is the non-negotiable need to pinch the sticks. He avers that this method, unlike the all-thumbs approach, is more precise and con-trolled and assuredly leads to overall be er piloting skills. Since Dave’s credentials as the chief instructor and owner of the 1st US

Radio Transmitter TraySecraft

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Secraft

DISTRIBUTOR: Esprit Model

PRICE: $92.00; accessory prices vary


Flight School are undeniably impressive, his words caused me to pause and rethink my long-held approach. And since my ultimate goal has always been to improve my fl ying skills, I decided to make the switch. Switching to this method, however, has been fairly challenging. My two forefi ngers have been the anchor members of my radio transmi er support crew for thirty-plus years! Moving them to the sticks resulted in me feeling like I was always about one second away from fl at-out dropping my transmi er. Determined to stick with my eff ort to refi ne my methods, I decided that perhaps a radio tray would be the answer. I had previously noticed that Esprit Model carried a unique and varied selection of fi ne looking aluminum radio trays and acces-sories from Secraft. With a fresh discount coupon in an email from Esprit in my inbox, I ordered up a tray. Esprit carries two diff er-ent sizes of this radio tray and it is available

in black, blue or red. The determining factor as to which size you will need is determined by the dimensions of the transmi er on which you want to use it on. It is all clearly explained on the Esprit website. There are also more than a few matching transmi er and tray accessories available from Esprit. My tray fl ew all the way from Florida to California in record time, thanks to Esprit’s use of USPS Priority shipping. The tray and its associated hardware are all contained in a compartmented plastic bag. No assembly instructions are included but Esprit provides ample close-up photos of the tray from a variety of angles on their comprehensive website. Using these photos, I had the tray assembled in a few minutes. I was duly impressed with how feathery-light the anod-ized blue tray felt in my hands. My primary rotary winged model transmi er is a Futaba 14SG. I like to use its built-in telemetry feature to receive real time in-fl ight data from some of my multirotor aircraft. It is not by any means a small transmi er dimensionally; and I was cursed to receive my momma’s

li le hands! Slipping the 14SG into the Secraft tray is easy and it locks fi rmly into place, with no fears that it could ever come out of the tray on its own. My fi rst fl ight using the tray had me instantly wonder-ing why and how I ever fl ew without it. The tray bears the full weight of the radio and the fi ngers that I previously tasked with holding my transmi er have since been relieved of duty. Using a tray makes

the pinch method of stick control much easier. The tray even allows me to completely remove my hands from the sticks while in fl ight, allowing me to easily access telemetry data on my radio or just give them a breather. I have since accessorized my Esprit tray even further, adding the optional hand rests, the LCD FPV monitor holder and the four-point harness strap. The hand rests are especially fantastic. I feel like my hands are now relaxing in a pair of La-Z-Boy recliners when I am fl ying. The hand rests completely support your hands in a most natural posi-tion possible and at the perfect elevation. I did have to slightly modify the LCD display holder to properly accommodate my par-ticular monitor, but I love having the FPV display right there above my transmi er. The angle of the LCD can be easily adjusted using a pair of anodized quick-release levers. The four-point harness strap does a great job of properly distributing the weight across your back and really contributes to the entire ensemble hanging comfortably and in the right position. My wife chuckles every time she sees her favorite nerd wearing what she refers to as his “fl ight controller command station” but this tray has been pivotal to this nerd making good on his determination to switch to the pinch style of radio control. The anodized-aluminum Secraft trays are light-weight, the machining and hardware are fi rst-rate and enough customization options and color choices exist to allow each pilot to outfi t their tray until it feels and looks just right to them. Though I used to think radio trays were only used by European pilots and old timers (and I am well on my way to being the la er), I have tasted what they can do and it is truly amazing. Good luck trying to pry this game changing transmi er tray out of my pinch grips. �

CONTACT Esprit Model espritmodel.com


Taking the controls of a multirotor can be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experi-

ences available in RC. Unfortunately, new pilots can get overwhelmed while trying to fl y, control a camera and monitor their surroundings. Most crashes can be avoided and anything that helps avoid a crash, pro-tects your investment and keeps you having fun is well worth looking into.

As a new pilot, it’s very easy to experience a bit of sensory overload. Managing to control your model can be enough for most, but when you add a cam-era, FPV monitor, an OSD (on screen display) and Ground Station waypoint capability, it can leave a pilot distracted and overwhelmed. It’s those few critical sec-onds that can make the diff erence between a successful fl ight and a really bad day. Another reason to con-sider telemetry is that you’ll never leave home without it. Many times I’ve fl own for fun without a camera installed to make ge ing in the air easier. Not having to lug FPV gear, ba eries, monitors, etc., can lighten the load. It also breaks your link to these secondary sources of information. As a new pilot, I also remem-ber staring at the FPV monitor while I tried to decipher the gamut of information before me.

LED WARNING

Recently, DJI modifi ed the fi rmware and eliminated the yellow 1st level warning that your ba ery voltage was ge ing low. If you fl y with a LightBridge, that 1st level warning is eliminated. What if you are just too high or far away to see it? Nearly all manufacturers off er radios with Telemetry or the ability to add it. Today I will be discussing the Futaba 14SG. This radio has become the standard for multirotors in the professional realm and has industry-leading telemetry capabili-ties. Most Futaba sensors are designed to plug into the S.Bus port on the receiver. To use more than one sensor, a parallel adapter is required. The included 7008SB receiver has an external volt-age port. By connecting power directly to this port with the optional cable (Futaba-CA-RVIN-700), the receiver will now send this info directly to your trans-mi er. You can set the voltage you would like the warning to be triggered at and when it’s time to land, the 14SG will vibrate in your hands.

BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP

Yet another reason to consider adding at least ba ery level telemetry is for backup. In the event you go out of FPV range with your machine, you can feel safe know-

72 MULTIROTOR PILOT

by Joe Papa

HOW TO

Prevent a CrashWith

Telemetry

Joe Papa is a an

accomplished pilot in the

multirotor arena. He has

fl own some of the most

expensive and highly

technical aerial camera rigs

available. Joe’s mechan-

ical and electrical design

background combined with

his passion for multiro-

tors makes him an integral

part of the Multirotor Pilot

team where he serves as

our technical editor and

test pilot.


ing you’re not fl ying in the dark. Recently, a friend asked me to get some GoPro video of a rooftop party he was having. I packed my Flamewheel 550 with the new GoPro Hero+ and 3-axis Zenmuse. After the fi rst fl ight I unplugged the li le USB connector from the camera to remove the memory card and the ribbon cable broke in half. Without the cable, I had no video signal and no power for the camera. I literally had to fl y blind and with the sun se ing in the distance, I couldn’t always see the Naza M v2 LED. Having the telemetry screen with real-time fl ight pack voltage was a lifesaver. As soon as the radio began to vibrate, I knew I had roughly three minutes to get back and land. It allows me to keep my eyes on the copter, which is especially important when you’re piloting around objects or low elevation.

S.BUS

Futaba radios also off er S.Bus-compatible telemetry sensors for monitoring tempera-ture, rpm, altitude, GPS, voltage and more. Connections are nearly eff ortless and the 14SG can display the data from 12 sensors on the telemetry screens. For each sen-sor you can choose the type of alert you would like as well as a maximum or mini-mum value to trigger the alert. Futaba even allows you to assign a switch to that par-ticular telemetry sensor, so you can turn the alert on/off .

ATMOSPHERIC SENSOR

With this sensor installed, you can be alerted by voice, vibration or audio melody when your model is gaining or losing alti-tude. I personally witnessed a crash when

a new pilot, completely mesmerized by his new FPV monitor accidentally pulled back on the thro le while turning his head to look at his screen. By the time he realized it was coming down, it was too late. The on-screen display was showing his altitude, but he was too busy trying to watch where he was going on the monitor. Needless to say, he landed in a tree at least 100 feet high. If his copter had this sensor, it would have played descending musical tones to let him hear that he was falling. This is great when you are piloting less than 20 feet off the ground and heading away from you, as it can be very diffi cult to determine if you are maintaining your altitude.

TEMP

This sensor is great for keeping an eye on motor, ESC or ba ery temps. Since most fl ight controllers can’t be used below certain temps, this can also help you avoid fl ights in weather that is too cold.

GPS

The GPS module is capable of giving you warnings for speed, distance, altitude and vario (rate of ascent/descent). The GPS module is an information powerhouse. I personally own this sensor and in the event of a crash or lost model, I can easily pull up the latitude and longitude GPS data and use it to locate the model.

THE LAST WORD

Futaba’s telemetry is a highly evolved and precise set of sensors. Its elegant design intuitively keeps you aware of your model’s

fl ight status and the alerts can be set to your taste and preference. The seconds leading up to a crash can be hectic or even panic-stricken. These are the moments you are least likely to be able to think clearly. Radio telemetry alerts like audio tones, voice prompts or vibrations are nearly impossible to miss and that can be all the diff erence in the world when every second counts. �

CONTACTFUTABA futaba-rc.com

If multirotors may have piqued your interest, but the prospect of trolling smoothly through the skies isn’t quite your cup of tea, the Invertix 400 is probably right up your alley. In a world of GPS-enabled machines with autopilot systems and super-advanced fl ight control boards, there are really only two options for quadcopters that are fully

3D-capable. Sure, there are a number of machines that are adept at performing stunts such as fl ips, rolls and loops, but to date, there are only two on the market that are able to roll inverted and stay there. 3D RC heli guru Bobby Watt s started his own company, Encore RC, to design, develop and bring the Invertix to market and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. The multirotor facet of RC has adopted many new pilots from all aspects of RC, but the hardcore 3D heli guys had always wanted a litt le something more in the performance department and this litt le quad is sure to give them what they’ve been asking for. Ditch the gimbal-mounted camera and strap up your boots for some awesome 3D action with a modestly priced machine that’s both easy to fl y and cheap to fi x. In the past, 3D capable rotary winged aircraft had always relied on some form of collective

ENCORE RC

3D Thrill Machine!

» NEED TO KNOWMANUFACTURER: Encore RC

DISTRIBUTOR: Encore RC

TYPE: 3D Quadcopter


MINIMUM FLYING AREA: Any outdoor fl ying area

PRICE: $429.98 (Carbon fi ber kit version)

78 MULTIROTOR PILOT

PILOT REVIEWWords Matt Maziarz

Photos by Walter Sidas

INVERTIX 400


pitch design. The fact of the matt er is that in RC helicopters, the main blade is so large when compared to the airframe itself. For this reason, the rpm of the head needs to stay at a consistent rate and direction while relying on changes in the pitch of the main blades to achieve a

Author’s OpinionWhile the current trend in multirotor airframes is to produce and fl y large, lumbering machines that provide a stable platform from which spectacular aerial images and video can be captured, there are a few builders and designers that are still focusing on the fun factor of the fl ight itself. Designed by Bobby Watts, the Invertix is all about 3D fl ight, providing a pure adrenaline rush and breaking the mold when it comes to quadcopter fl ying characteristics. The frame is extremely light, yet rigid and once it’s all buttoned up, it looks awesome. The optional LED light strips allow for some after dark action so exhilarating fl ight is always an option, no matter what time of day it is.

SPECSFLYING WEIGHT: 635g (CF version without battery)

LENGTH: 405mm

HEIGHT: 123mm

WIDTH: 405mm

PROPS: (4) 8 in. Neo 3D props included

MOTORS: (4) Outlaw 2212-1400Kv brushless motors

ESCS: (4) Outlaw Reverse3D 25Amp Opto ESCs

RADIO: Spektrum DX9 transmitter and Spektrum Spektrum DSMX remote receiver

FLIGHT CONTROLLER: NanoWii fl ight controller

BATTERY: Turnigy 3S 2200mAh LiPo

DURATION: 5 minutes

NEEDED TO COMPLETE: Minimum 5-channel transmitter with helicopter programming, 3S 2200-2600mAh LiPo and a Spektrum satellite receiver. (There is an option to purchase a kit that can be used with external receivers as well as an RTF version).

PROS Quick and easy assembly thanks to

the design and intuitive manual

Pre-programmed fl ight control board

Satellite receiver version allows for a cleaner, lighter install

3D capable without all the extra collective pitch linkage

CONS Landing gear and bottom plate are

diffi cult to disassemble for repairs and maintenance

The optional LEDs available from Encore RC really make this little 3D beast sparkle in addition to making night fl ights possible.

Prepping the machine fi rst its fi rst fl ight, I had to keep reminding myself, “mid-stick to land, mid-stick to land.” Basically, once the motors are armed, anything above 50 percent throttle is positive rotation while anything between zero and mid-stick is negative rotation. I assigned the motor arming switch duties to the H-lever on my DX9, which is the same switch I use for throttle hold on my CP helicopters, so if all else failed, I would simply disarm the motors if a crash was imminent in order to limit the damage to the airframe or its components. I set my radio up according to the manual with low rates around 100 and highs at 125 for the rudder, ailerons and elevator. Throttle was set to 125 for both rates. With two fully charged packs in tow, I headed out to the local fi eld with staff photographer Walter Sidas. After arming the motors, I again reminded myself that I was, more or less, fl ying a machine that was always in idle up and a machine without any sort of GPS or altitude hold. I advanced the throttle and the Invertix lurched skywards. In low rates, the machine was very stable, almost locked stationary without any input. The throttle took a little getting used to as it is very responsive, but that’s to be expected for a 3D platform. I spent the fi rst battery pack fl ying circuits around the fi eld in an upright orientation to get myself familiar with the fl ight characteristics. Slow forward movements were precise and easy, but high speed circles required a bit more attention. Because there is no system limiting the angle of the machine when pitched forward, it can

move out with authority. At the fi ve-minute mark, the battery started to lose its pep so I landed it gently at mid-stick…hooray! I allowed the ESCs and motors to cool a bit, as it was a fairly hot and humid day, before strapping a fresh Encore RC 2600mAh 3S to the belly of the Invertix. Popping it up to twenty feet, I switched into high rates and buried the throttle to enter into a large nose over arch. Once the machine was completely inverted, I brought the throttle down to twenty fi ve percent and within the blink of an eye, the props reversed direction and sent the Invertix towards the clouds belly up. I performed a few more wide rolls and loops before getting closer to the ground, just to get a feel for how it would react to aggressive throttle inputs. Much to my amazement, the machine exhibited no ill effects from the props reversing direction so quickly. There’s something to be said for the counter rotating design of multirotors in that they offer a far superior platform stability-wise than their CP helicopter counterparts. Holding the Invertix inverted for an extended period was a breeze compared to some of my helis and when stopped at the apex of a fl ip or roll, it’ll tick tock until the cows come home. Inverted hurricanes were also much easier though I had to keep them in close as orientation is not as easy to discern on a small quadcopter as it is on a pod and boom helicopter. I’ve fi nally got the tool I so desperately need to perfect my piro-fl ips without worrying about stuffi ng one of my larger, more expensive and less durable helis!

PILOT REVIEW I ENCORE RC INVERTIX 400

IN THE AIR

80 MULTIROTOR PILOT

collective response. While this method has been simplifi ed to a great degree with the advent of fl ybarless control systems, there is entirely another option in the world of multirotor aircraft . The idea of reversing prop direction in the blink of an eye might not be a plausible option for single rotor helicopters, but the inherent stability and relatively small prop sizes on a multirotor are the perfect grounds for such a design. The fact that the props on a quad are

spinning in opposing directions means that the reverse in direction will do nothing to disturb the yaw center of the frame itself. Such an innovative design coupled with a skilled set of thumbs is sure to draw more than a few 3D freaks into the realm of multirotors.

SETUP

ASSEMBLY TIPS

The assembly instructions advise

placing the ESCs on top of the frame, but we opted to hide ours on the bott om of the top deck for a clean look. If you’re going to do the same, be sure to either fi le the frame edges down or to add spliced fuel line tubing to prevent the wires from chafi ng on the frame edges.

Routing all of the wiring between the top and bott om frame plates requires moving the ferrite cores on the ESC leads closer to the ESC itself.

Long-nosed hemostats are a great deal of help when plugging in each ESC as the distribution board is sandwiched between the two frames.

Do not zip-tie the wiring underneath each boom until you’ve tidied up all the internal wiring and the optional LEDs. The LED strips are small, but not so much that they will fi t between the motor mounting bolts. We opted to mount ours diagonally between said bolts so that they point straight backwards and forwards as the Invertix is fl own in X confi guration.

Encore RC has incorporated rubber grommets into the top deck of the frame to route the wiring down to the distribution board. We, however, chose to shoe-horn the ESCs on the bott om for a cleaner look from the top side. To do this we sliced open sections of nitro fuel line open and glued them to the frame edges where the wires would travel.

THE LAST WORD

So if you’re a die-hard 3D kinda guy in the rotary winged world and have put off on gett ing into multirotors because of their general lack of agility and inability to hover inverted, your time has come with the release of the Invertix 400. It combines all the maneuverability of a collective pitch heli with the stability of a self-centering multirotor. The build is easy, there is no programming and the machine fl ies just plain awesome. The construction itself should prove to be very durable should any close encounters with the ground occur. Replacement parts are priced at an economical point so spares can always be kept in the parts box. The manual for the build and setup is second to none and Encore RC even has a build video by Bobby Watt s on their website. I’m not really a camera and gimbal kind of guy and it was refreshing to see a manufacturer come out with such an innovative machine at such a modest price point. Well done Mr. Watt s and Encore! �

CONTACTSENCORE RC encorerc.comHOBBYKING hobbyking.comSPEKTRUM spektrumrc.com



WE USEDTRANSMITTER: Spektrum DX9, SPMR9900

RECEIVER: Spektrum Remote Receiver, SPM9645

BATTERY: Encore RC 2600mAh 3S LiPo

ESC: (4) Outlaw Reverse3D 25Amp Opto ESCs, OLESC-25A3D (included)

MOTOR: (4) Outlaw 2212-1400Kv brushless motors, OLMOTO2212-1400 (included)

PROPS: (4) 8 in. NEO 3D Fixed Pitch Propellers, NEO-3D8B (included)

FC BOARD: Factory-tuned NanoWii, FLDUNW1.5S (included)

With all of the electronics tucked beneath the top deck, the layout looks nice and tidy. The carbon fi ber version also gives the Invertix killer looks.

Notice the long length of silicone fuel line on the bot-tom deck as well as the two small sections on the top one to protect the wiring from the sharp edges of the frame plates.

The props on the Invertix have a ridiculously steep pitch and a unique, hourglass shape. Such a design is required for a machine that uses reversing motor rotation to achieve inverted fl ight.

Whether you are fl ying full-on FPV with video goggles or are fl ying line of sight while framing your shots using a video monitor, an OSD (On Screen Display) is a critical

tool to have on your copter. Even though you are fl ying and able to see the video from the copter, you are still essentially fl ying blind. There is vital information that an OSD can send to your monitor to let you know the status of your batt eries, your distance

from home, the att itude of your copter, your altitude and more. DJI off ers two separate iOSD units; the iOSD Mini and iOSD Mark II. Both units overlay the same data to your video signal in real time. That information includes:

Total voltage of the Naza, WKM or A2 PMU (batt ery voltage) Distance to home location Altitude Your fl ight mode (GPS, Att itude, Manual) Failsafe status (Failsafe, GoHome, APT Ground Station) Pitch and roll degrees Ground speed in meters/second Number of satellites Nose direction to home Vertical speed in meters/second Artifi cial horizon line Azimuth angle (heading in degrees) Video channel (Mark II only) Compass error indicator Airport alert lets you know when you are in a no-fl y zone

The soft ware assistant allows you to set warnings for number of satellites, altitude warning and distance from home point. It also allows you to move the data to the left or right, but it does not allow you to position the data to suit your needs.

IOSD MARK II

The iOSD Mark II utilizes an integrated design that includes a lot of functionality in a compact unit. It is designed to work in conjunction with the DJI fl ight control-lers (A2, WooKong-M, Naza-M or Naza-M V2). Data is passed along via the DJI CanBus system to give you fast, reliable and accurate fl ight data information. The Mark II supports dual video source inputs that are switchable during fl ight. Each input can be either PAL or NTSC and you can assign a 3-position transmitt er switch

82 MULTIROTOR PILOT

DJI

PRODUCTSPOTLIGHTby Joe Cannavo Photos Joe Papa

iOSDs-Mark II and Mini

Real-time fl ight data made easy

SPECSiOSD Mark II DIMENSIONS: 52mm x 41mm x 11mm WEIGHT: 56g VIDEO INPUT/OUTPUT: PAL/NTSC VOLTAGE: 3S-6S (via integrated BEC) CURRENT: [email protected]; [email protected] CONTROLLER SUPPORTED: A2, WKM, Naza-M, Naza-M V2 BUILT IN FUNCTIONS: - iOSD information transmission - Video transmission, two video signal channels input and switch - Channel switch supported for the DJI wireless video transmitter module - DJI Z15 gimbal supported - Flight log function INCLUDES: Z15 cable, two CanBus cables, a video input cable, a video output cable and a two to three-pin cable

iOSD Mini DIMENSIONS: 33.2mm x 28.2mm x 10.55mm WEIGHT: 14g VIDEO INPUT/OUTPUT: PAL/NTSC VOLTAGE: 6V CURRENT: 180mA@6V CONTROLLER SUPPORTED: A2, WKM, Naza-M, Naza-M V2 INCLUDES: 200mm cable for Naza-M or WKM

FUNCTIONS iOSD MARK II iOSD MINI

Supported DJI fl ight control system .................................................Wookong-M, Naza-M, Naza-M V2 ..................Wookong-M, Naza-M, Naza-M V2

Superimposed real-time fl ight data over the video signal ....................................... YES .........................................................................................YES

Support for two video source inputs, switchable during fl ight ................................ YES ..........................................................................................NO

Remote switching of video link channels in real time .............................................. YES ..........................................................................................NO

Upgradeable online – free ....................................................................................... YES .........................................................................................YES

Built-in BEC module, supports 3S-6S LiPo............................................................... YES ..........................................................................................NO

User-friendly assistant software ............................................................................. YES .........................................................................................YES

Flight log functionality ............................................................................................. YES ..........................................................................................NO

Provides power for camera and DJI video link ........................................................ YES ..........................................................................................NO

to remotely select the input you want. This allows the pilot to switch between the aerial camera and FPV camera which is very useful in single operator setups. If your multirotor has a 3-axis gimbal such as the DJI Z15 that can continually rotate 360 degrees and you are viewing that source, it will be very diffi cult to know the position of the nose of the aircraft and can make controlling the copter diffi cult. Being able to switch to a fi xed, forward-facing FPV camera will allow you to monitor the direction that the machine is traveling to reposi-tion the copter and then safely return to fi lming. The transmitt er switch can also be used to remotely change the video transmitt er channel when using a DJI video transmitt er. This is useful when you are experiencing video interference on the ground that can aff ect your fl ight; you can simply change to a cleaner chan-nel. The Mark II also has the capability of recording fl ight log data which keeps track of the input and output information from every channel, GPS signal, power voltage, home distance, height and more. This data can be recalled and viewed from the assistant soft ware aft er the fl ight. The built-in BEC module allows the Mark II to support from 3S to 6S LiPo batt eries and it also provides the power supply to the camera and main controller improving reliability. There are three CanBus ports on the Mark II, which give you fl exibility of expanding your system to include other DJI components like a BTU or the Ground Station Data Link without the need to install a CanHub.

IOSD MINI

The iOSD Mini is an inexpensive solution to give you the same

real-time data overlaid on your video feed as the Mark II. They kept the cost down by eliminating some of the features like data logging, multiple video sources, remote channel switching and the BEC. However if you are fl ying a simpler machine you might not need these features. The input voltage for the Mini is limited to 6V which is supplied via the CanBus cable. The lack of BEC means that you can-not provide power to the camera or video transmitt er from the OSD. The only connectivity on the Mini is the video input and output and a single CanBus port. You can also still use the Mini with other DJI components, but it only has a single CanBus port so you would need to install a CanHub to give you the expandability that you might need.

ASSISTANT SOFTWARE

Both iOSD units can take advantage of the Assistant Soft ware which allows you to upgrade to the latest fi rmware as well as set parameters and warnings for the unit. They connect to a Windows PC via a USB mini cable. You can download the soft ware and required driver from the DJI website’s support section. Using the soft ware you can adjust the horizontal position of the data overlaid on the screen to ensure all of the data is in view. The number of satellites warning can be set to alert you if you fall below


84 MULTIROTOR PILOT

a specifi ed number of satellites thus, preventing GPS positioning from not working. You can set a warning for the maximum distance from the starting point (home) which will prevent you from fl y-ing out of video signal or worse yet, radio control range. You can also set the height range which will alert you if you fall below or fl y above preset heights.

THE LAST WORD

No matt er what DJI controller-equipped machine you are fl ying, if you are using video either for FPV or aerial video work, you can benefi t from a DJI iOSD unit. Which unit you choose depends on your needs. The iOSD Mini retails for $69.00 and it provides all the same fl ight information as the more expensive, $255.00 iOSD Mark II. The Mark II has additional features that are useful on higher-end, like dual video source and remote channel switching as well as data logging and an integrated BEC to supply power to your video gear. No matt er what you need, DJI has a solu-tion for you. Stay in the know; know what is going on up there at all times. �

CONTACTDJI empirerc.com


PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT I DJI IOSDS-MARK II AND MINI

MULTIROTOR PILOT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014 85

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Multirotor Source GuidePlease check with your local hobby store to fi nd products reviewed in Multirotor Pilot Magazine. Additional sources are listed below.

ARESDistributed exclusively by Hobbytown USAwww.ares-rc.comEmail: [email protected]

Blade Distributed by Horizon Hobby4105 Fieldstone RoadChampaign, IL 61822Phone: (800) 338-4639www.bladehelis.com

Castle Creations540 N. Rogers RoadOlathe, KS 66062Phone: (913) 390-6939Fax: (913) 390-6164www.castlecreations.comEmail: [email protected]

DJIPhone: (818) 235-0789www.dji.comEmail: [email protected]

ElectriFlyDistributed exclusively by HobbicoP.O. Box 9021Champaign, IL 61826www.electrifl y.comCustomerLink Hotline: (800) 682-8948Available at your local hobby store, or online at www.towerhobbies.com

Encore RC175 Semoran Commerce Place, Suite DApopka, FL 32703eFax: (866) 724-2777www.encorerc.com

Esprit Models1240 Clearmont St. NE, Unit #12Palm Bay, FL 32905Phone: (321) 729-4287Fax: (321) 725-8920www.espritmodel.comEmail: [email protected]

Fat Shark RC Vision SystemsDistributed by Horizon Hobby Distributors4105 Fieldstone Rd.Champaign, IL 61822Toll Free: (800) 338-4639www.fatshark.comwww.horizonhobby.com

FutabaDistributed exclusively by HobbicoP.O. Box 9021Champaign, IL 61826www.futaba-rc.comPhone: (217) 398-3630Available at your local hobby store, or online at www.towerhobbies.com

Gemfanwww.gemfanhobby.comEmail: [email protected]

GetFPV1127 Goodrich AveSarasota, FL 34236Phone: (941) 444-0021www.getfpv.com

GoProPhone: (888) 600-4659www.gopro.com

Gryphon Dynamicswww.gryphondynamics.co.kr

Heli-MaxDistributed exclusively by HobbicoP.O. Box 9021Champaign, IL 61826Phone: (217) 398-3630www.helimax-rc.comAvailable at your local hobby store, or online at www.towerhobbies.com

Hitec RCD USA12115 Paine StreetPoway, CA 92064Phone: (858) 748-6948Fax: (858) 748-1767www.hitecrcd.comEmail: [email protected]

HobbicoP.O. Box 9021Champaign, IL 61826Phone: (217) 398-3630 www.hobbico.comAvailable at your local hobby store, or online at www.towerhobbies.com

HobbyKingwww.hobbyking.com

Hobbytown USAwww.hobbytown.comEmail: [email protected]

Hobbywingwww.falconsekido.comEmail: [email protected]

Horizon Hobby 4105 Fieldstone Rd.Champaign, IL 61822Phone: (800) 338-4639www.horizonhobby.com

HPHeli18480 Bandilier CircleFountain Valley, CA 92708Phone: (800) 854-8471International: (714) 963-0329www.hobbypeople.netEmail: [email protected]

HRP Distributingwww.hrpdealer.com

Immersion RCwww.immersionrc.comEmail: [email protected]

JR AmericasP.O. Box 8757Champaign IL 61826-8757www.jramericas.com

KDS Models USA1730 Preston Ave., Suite EPasadena, TX 77503Phone: (713) 475-5855www.kdsmodelsusa.com

Lumenier1127 Goodrich AveSarasota, FL 34236Phone: (941) 444-0021www.getfpv.com

Mars ParachutesPhone: (562)267-9452www.marsparachutes.comEmail: [email protected]

Mobiuswww.hobbyking.com

NotadronePhone: (860) 480-1982www.notadrone.comEmail: [email protected]

PulseHeli Direct730 Eastern Ave., Unit 096Malden, MA 02148Phone: (877) 439-4354 Fax: (781) 723-6172www.helidirect.com

Quantum MotorsPhone: (877) 439-4354www.quantummotors.comEmail: [email protected]

RevolectrixDistributed by FMA Direct3520 Sugarloaf Parkway, Suite F-03-121Urbana, MD 21704Phone: (301) 798 2770Fax: (301) 798 2772 www.usastore.revolectrix.comEmail: [email protected]

Sky-Herowww.sky-hero.comSales Email: [email protected]

SpektrumDistributed by Horizon Hobby4105 Fieldstone Rd.Champaign, IL 61822Toll Free: (800) 338-4639www.spektrumrc.comwww.horizonhobby.com

T-Motor1127 Goodrich AveSarasota, FL 34236Phone: (941) 444-0021www.getfpv.com

Turnigywww.hobbyking.com

Ultimaker www.ultimaker.comEmail: [email protected]

Youmaginewww.youmagine.comEmail: [email protected]


A Main Hobbies ............................... 14-15 Academy of Model Aeronautics ..... 28-29 ARES ......................................................51 Atlanta Hobby ........................................76 Blade ...................................................CV4BP Hobbies, LLC. ...................................89 Castle Creations, Inc. .............................41 Designatronics, Inc. ...............................85 Du-Bro Products ....................................85 Empire Hobby ........................................39 FMA Direct .............................................66 Gensace Batteries ..................................87 Graupner/SJ USA ..................................49Heli-Max ..............................................CV2 Hitec RCD USA, Inc. ..............................35 HobbyKing ....................................CV3, 75 Hobby Pro USA .....................................84 JR Americas ...........................................11 KDS Models USA ..................................88 Landing Products ...................................86 Max Amps ................................................7 Motor City Drone Company ..................13 ProtoX SLT ...............................................3 Range Video ....................................19, 77 RobotShop Inc. ......................................67 Spektrum ............................................. 4-5Thunder Power ......................................50UAV Direct .............................................86 Unmanned Experts ................................87 Windsor Propeller ..................................86 XAircraft America ..................................74 XHELI.com ...............................................9

MULTIROTOR ADVERTISER INDEX

90 MULTIROTOR PILOT

by Matt Maziarz

Sure as the sun will come up tomor-row…crashes will happen to anyone and everyone

at some point or another. Whether it’s from mechanical failure, electri-cal problems, low battery voltage or plain old dumb thumbs, if you fly fairly regularly, it’s bound to happen at some point or another. So what’s the point, you may ask? Why take the risk when so much time and money is invested to get your machine outfitted and flying to the point where you’re happy with it when it could all be lost? It doesn’t have to be something major either. It could be something as simple as one single prop nut loosening or a single wire becoming frayed that could down a large and expensive machine. Like I said before, no matter what your experience level or how diligent you might be at building and maintaining your rig, unexpected landings due to a failure is inevitable. After all, whether you’re flying an airplane, helicopter or a multirotor, they all have that built in “return to earth” func-tion…it’s called gravity. But fear not, there is a solution for those of you who have been grounded by worrying about damaging your precious machines. Mars Parachutes out of La Habra, CA,

has come up with a failsafe system that they have given the mon-iker M.A.R.S. (Multirotor Aerial Recovery System). Basically, it is a spring-loaded parachute that is mounted on the top of your multirotor platform that is triggered by a two-way switch on your

transmitter. The manufacturer markets three different sizes

of systems. The Mars Mini is rated for machines weighing up to four pounds and uti-lizes a 36-inch parachute, the Mars 58 is rated for machines up to 10 pounds and uses a 58-inch chute while the Mars 120 is rated up to 25 pounds and uses a 120-inch chute. The prices of each unit might seem a bit high, but consider-

ing how much we put into and onto our multirotors, I’d say the

price is well worth it. Are they guaranteed to slow the descent

enough to where the machine will not be damaged? No, but I’ll take

what I can get when it comes to protecting my investment. Will they work if there is a loss of signal between the transmitter and machine? No, the system needs to be deployed by operating a two-way switch on the transmitter. What if my machine is falling in inverted orientation or even worse, tumbling in descent? While an optimal release angle is straight up, the spring-loaded mechanism ejects the entire chute and rigging, so even in less-than-optimal conditions, the chute should open cleanly. Like I said before, I’ll take what I can get. There is nothing worse in the world of multirotors than watching your machine hurtling towards the ground and not being able to do anything to stop or slow it down. Mars Parachutes is not an anomaly in that respect either. There are a few other manufacturers out there that are working on similar systems and even some that are more advanced. Some of these designers are looking to combat the problem of losing radio contact with the machine. Most flight control systems disarm the motors if radio signal is lost. The trick is to get the parachute to deploy in such instances. Whatever the case may be and regardless of the company producing these systems, they are a welcome addition to our hobby and are sure to negate some of the jitters involved with flying such pricey machines. �

CONTACTSMARS PARACHUTES marsparachutes.com


Parachutes aren't just for skydivers anymore!

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