Picking up the Astrocopter from Aerobot

I flew out to Gold Coast on the 22nd of November, taking the midnight howler, as they call it here! I arrived in Gold Coast on at 6am, which of course felt like 3am, and picked up some coffee and a croissant. I picked up the keys to the car, then checked out where I needed to drive to while consuming very necessary caffeine. I programmed my phone for the route, and set off.

An hour and a half later, I pulled into Byron Bay, found my accommodation ok, and had a nap, before going out to find lunch. After lunch, Flick from Aerobot came over and dropped off the transmitter and simulation software so I could practice before picking up the 'copter the next day. Unfortunately I didn't have a CD drive in my netbook, but luckily the software could be easily downloaded from the AerosimRC website. It checks for the proprietary USB dongle that comes with the transmitter, and if it doesn't find it, you can only fly a demo for a couple of minutes.

Simon's good enough to fly indoors!

I plugged it in and got straight into the training, which was quite surreal as I was rather jet-lagged, and sat in a four-poster bed surrounded by mosquito netting, since the mosquitos were just too persistent for me to sit outside. After a few hours I went out for dinner, then came back and trained for another hour or so, before reading and falling asleep.

The funky windchime

The next day I packed my few things and headed out to the home of Aerobot, a spacious two-story studio built into the side of a steep hill about fifteen minutes from Byron Bay. From the side of the hill, they could fly their machines out for hundreds of meters without losing line-of-sight. They had some great paraphernalia, including a wonderful wind-chime made entirely out of bits of busted mikrokopter.

Our own Oktokopter in flight

Simon and Flick were very helpful, showing me all the different parts of the Oktokopter XL, the model we had chosen. In particular, they showed me how to reattach the main body to the landing gear, since this is a bit fiddly.

The correct wire inputs for the transmitter.

The correct way to layer the shims between
the main body and the landing gear

I also did an hour or so of Quadcopter training, of which I unfortunately have no photos. It was quite windy outdoors and the Quad was considerably lighter than the Okto I had been training on. So I found it difficult to maintain fine control, as it was constantly being buffeted about. Also, I simply didn't yet have the muscle memory, and had to consciously pick which lever to push in order to have the Quad respond. However, after just an hour of training, I was noticeably better, and felt like I was beginning to move instinctively, rather than reactively.

But all too soon, we needed to pack the Oktokopter ready for transport back to Curtin. Unfortunately, all the nearby packing businesses were closed or busy, so we improvised, using a lot of cardboard and bubble wrap! Everything except the main body went in a box ready to be checked in, and I carried the main body, wrapped in clingfilm, as hand luggage. It certainly raised some eyebrows at the airport and for a time they weren't sure whether to let me on the plane, but eventually I was able to speak to the cabin manager for my flight, and he agreed that it would fit lengthwise in an overhead locker, even if it was longer than their 'standard' luggage side. Thank you, JetStar, for being reasonable!