Flite Test - FPV - Foggy Fall Morning 2010

The fog, cool crisp air and colorful autumn leaves made this a magical FPV flight this morning.

The camera plane:
Multiplex Twinstar II with the GoPro Hero HD camera and Eagletree looger/OSD.

www.flitetest.com - Watch it!

Flite Test - Parkzone F4F Wildcat - REVIEW

Key Features:
Ready to fly in minutes
Full 4-channel control (throttle, aileron, elevator and rudder)
3S 11.1V 1300mAh Li-Po battery and balancing charger included
Spektrum™ AR500 DSM2™ 5-channel sport receiver installed
Powerful 480-size 960Kv brushless outrunner motor installed
Dual aileron servos for precise control
Battery compartment accommodates most 1800-2100mAh Li-Po packs (sold separately)
Scale details include realistic paint scheme, molded panel lines, simulated retractable landing gear and hand-painted pilot figure
Only requires a full range DSM2 aircraft transmitter (sold separately)

This is a sweet flying airplane! I wasn't expecting much when I bought it. Once I got in the air, it quickly became my favorite plane. It definitely helps to have some flight time under your belt before fliying this this one... it's fast! I recommend using the elevator and the rudder together to get a tight snap roll. Parkzone did a great job of building the power system (prop/motor/esc/battery). I find myself flying at 3/4 to full throttle a lot and nothing gets hot. If you love warbirds, and speed, I highly recommend this plane.
-Chad Kapper
FliteTest Pilot

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This is a collection of my FPV flights from the past few months. Most of these were shot with the GoPro Hero HD and featuring The Multiplex Twinstar II, E-Flite Mini Ultra Stick, and the Dynam Hawk-Sky. I felt as though I had a number of highly successful flights, while also having my share of accidents. I'm looking forward to the fall and winter flights! Feel free to post comments or questions. ENJOY!

NEW FPV Ground Station!

This is my new, improved, FPV ground station! I got so tired of dragging everything outside and assembling everything every time I wanted to fly FPV (first person view). I thought there must be a simpler way. There is! Now all I have to do is pop up my mini folding table, pop off the lid, and plug it in. For short flights I don't even have to plug it in... I built in a battery backup.

I spent a good bit of time trying to find the right pieces. In the end I was very happy with how it turned out. The first assembly was built with with Gorilla Tape. It worked well until I had it in the sun for more than an hour. So now everything is held together with an aluminum frame. I mounted the patch antenna behind the monitor facing up about 45 degrees. It seems to work really well. I like to record all of my FPV flights just in case anything goes wrong.

KapperQuad 2.0 - Launch!

Today I had my first "real" flight with the new KapperQuad 2.0. It was built with materials from AeroQuad.com, Home Depot, and HobbyKing. KapperQuad 1.0 didn't have any real flight time. By the time I was done building it, I realized the motors, props and frame were all wrong. And I didn't want to keep polishing a turd. Sooooo KapperQuad 2.0 was born from refinement.

KapperQuad 2.0
1 X Arduino Mega
1 X Spektrum AR6110e RX
1 X 5 DOF IMU
1 X Dual Axis Gyro
4 X Turnigy 2217 860kv 22A Outrunner Motors
2 X Zippy Flightmax 2200mAh 3S 20C (running in parallel)
4 X TowerPro H40A ESC
2 X APC 12x3.8 Prop Slow Flyer
2 X APC 12x3.8 Prop Slow Flyer Pusher
1 X GoPro Hero Camera
The motors are 60 cm apart.
The total weight with batteries is about 1.8 kg.
The shelves are made of polycarbonate (Lexan).

My goal is to have a very stable camera platform to use for aerial video. I am not sure what is "normal" for a quad. So there will be extensive testing and practice.

Currently my biggest fear is flipping the copter. It seems to fly well but the yaw is not strong enough. I am working on adjusting my settings.

It seems pretty stable overall. Version 1.0 seemed as though it would flip really easy. I lowered the center of gravity in this version and I feel more confident about how it moves. I just seem to get a lot of drift. Of course there was a light wind.

Too many projects!

A long time ago my wife said that I had an addictive personality. Well... she's right. I have a ridiculous obsession with this hobby. I can't stop flying, building and experimenting. Right now I've got three projects in progress...

1. A reliable FPV setup with a 1.5 mile range

2. A stable, slow-flyer for aerial HD video

3. A Quadcopter with HD camera rig

I just wanted to update the blog. I'll get more details posted about each project as they come along.

What did they say?!? Speak English!

The RC Plane Glossary

Just like any hobby or specialty... the people, the industry, and the distributors have their own lingo. It's almost another language. When I got into this, I would hear phrases and acronyms that made no sense whatsoever. RTF, ARF, Glow, Stick Plane, ESC, Buddy box, etc. What does it all mean?!?

Here is an excellent resource for obscure terms, acronyms and so much more...
http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/rc-flying-glossary.html