Flying..again!

I hinted that there would be more info to follow, well here it is.

I took the MaxiSwift out to fly again, and did a couple of flights with it to test out the new ground station as well as the monitor on a stick...er...on a tripod.

The ground station was a pleasure to use, and the cleaned up wiring payed off in easier setup and teardown.  The monitor, on the other hand, didn't do so well.  It was one I had picked up some time ago, most likely at at hamfest.  I had used it a few times on the bench when I needed a monitor for whatever, and it did fine.  However, during the longer flights I was putting in, it failed.  The LCD went wonky, and was rendered useless.  Good thing I was wearing my goggles and using the monitor for passengers!  The upside is Eli liked having a monitor to watch while I flew.  Luckily,  I have a few more that work correctly for long periods.  I just need to modify them to use with my setup.

The last flight of the day started at dusk, and was a lot of fun.  I have video of it, and while the recorded video isn't great, I still enjoyed watching it.  The view in the goggles is allot better than what I captured, due in no small part to my budget recording setup..but hey, it works and it is cheap!  Anyway, the video is here:

I am looking forward tuning and tweaking the platform more until I get it right.  It flies pretty darn good now, but like anything else, it can always be improved.

In other news, I am assisting the guys over at http://deaconeye.blogspot.com/ with their sUAS vehicles.  I have known Marcus for a while now, and I was pretty blown away when he asked if I would be interested in helping out.  So far, we have flown a couple of times, tweaking the flight control system on Catfish.  I have also visited the lab, and will soon (tomorrow) have a hexa in my hands to set up for use with the program.  We have some exciting missions coming up and I am looking forward to participating in them.  It is an interesting application of the hobby for me, and I think I will learn more from the rest of the team than they will learn from me..but either way, it will be fun.  I will have a chance to contribute to research that could have huge benefits for folks around the world!