50m Flight Test

Plan

In anticipation of the site visit to MRO, which may involve aerial photography of the Australian SKA Pathfinder dishes, I wanted to get a feel for flying at a higher altitude than I had tried before. Since it's better to do this in baby steps, I set a course for half of the legal altitude - a couple of way points at 50m. To try not to change anything from previous waypointed runs, I generated a rough rectangular flight path around the courtyard, focusing the camera on a POI about 10m west of where I was standing with the controller. I also hoped to compare the GPS log to the execute plan to see where the 'copter thought it was compared to where I told it to be.

Flight Log

I carried out two flights following the same waypoint pattern, because the video did not record the first time. Weather was fine, wind around 10 knots, NW.

Flight start: 14.41

Took off very smoothly, engaged Carefree, tested the controls, took it to altitude visually, and then engaged Waypoint mode. 'Copter yawed noticeably in order to focus on the POI, and then executed the waypoints. At one point, it flew along the same line-of-sight as the Sun, which made it difficult to see. Brought it down safely and found that the video hadn't recorded.

Flight end: 14.44

Flight start: 14.53

Again, smooth take-off, visually brought it to altitude, engaged Waypoint mode. The pattern executed was the same. Landing was again smooth and on target.

Flight end: 14.56

Struts are showing further signs of wear and one keeps coming loose no matter how gently I land!

Found on return to the lab that no GPS log had been made, as the microSD card claimed to be write-protected. I had previously used the same microSD card in the MX-20 transmitter so it's possible it had somehow corrupted the card. I eventually managed to reformat it in FAT(default) on Windows 7, and it seemed to read and write fine after that.

Lessons

• Try not to program in a flight path that causes the 'copter to come within 5 degrees of the apparent Sun; any loss of control at that point would make the 'copter very difficult to recover.
• Video camera switch needs to be firmly engaged in 'Record' mode.
• MX-20 transmitter may be corrupting microSD card; be consistent with card in each device if I plan to log both.
• 50m is really, really high.