Here is a recent video by David Windestål, of RCExplorer.se
[video=youtube;sjh4N204Vuw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjh4N204Vuw[/video]
He's one of the Rock Stars of Multicopter flying. Incredibly skilled pilot, great videos. He lives in Sweden, but lived in the U.S. for a year and half, working with the Flite Test group (I watch every video they do), and he was their best innovator/designer.
He helped to popularize the "Tricopter". It maneuvers better than the other multicopter types because the prop on the tail is hinged to tilt side to side so it has a better yaw feel (Other multicopters rotate in yaw by speeding up some motors/props and slowing down opposite rotation motors/props so the difference in torque causes it to rotate in yaw. Nice for a stable camera platform). I have not flown any multicopter beyond a DJI Phantom II for 5 minutes. But have done some recent flying on RealFlight (R/C Flight Simulator) with various virtual multicopters. The TriCopter is the most fun to fly, it can bank in turns more like a plane does and the visual cues for piloting are more like flying a plane. That is what he used in this video.
I'm hoping to build a TriCopter after summer, to fly in the Fall.
One more video by David, from 2 years ago. A balloon carried a "Space Glider" up to about 30 kilometers, then dropped it.
[video=youtube;rpBnurznFio]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpBnurznFio[/video]
OK, so it's not a multicopter, but still….hobbyist "drone" tech.
And I would LOVE for the FAA to embarrass itself even more by sending him a threatening letter for that flight (or the indoor mall flight). It would be hilarious.
Indeed..... LOTS of videos on the net of people using helium balloons to carry payloads (nearly always a camera of some type, sometimes a cell phone) up very high, many miles (not "Space", that is impossible). Some have been school student groups. NO WAIVERS. Have not seen one story about the FAA sending threatening letters to anyone about THAT.
- George Gassaway
