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0 pointsi336_9y ago0 comments

I see.

I'm mostly finding drones with multiple rotors and batteries thus far, not much that's like a more traditional "is a plane, has an engine" type of approach, which I suspect will net me a fair bit of flight time.

This is really just a thought experiment - I saw the thread and decided to throw the question out there as something I've been mildly curious about for some time. "Could I load up a bunch of stuff into something that looks like a (big) model plane, head down to the local park, hit 'go' and have it land near a friend's house in a couple hours?"

I'll admit I was kind of expecting $10k, although that is duly disappointing to learn nonetheless.

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49para9y ago· 1 in thread

I think "long range" probably will violate many countries drone laws. I'd investigate the legality before proceeding with a build project.

VLM9y ago

The FAA doesn't care about range but is pretty excited about altitude (keeping it low), being away from airports, and being under direct human observation/control or if doing first person video with goggles having some kind of backup.

The FCC is who gets annoyed when long distance folks do the "CB linear" attitude and basically ignore all power regulations to get range.

Most of the civilians doing research and "production" flights currently are more likely to be violating various DEA laws with somewhat more draconian penalties than the FAA or FCC would every enforce anyway. 10 Kg of coke is going to be problematic to talk your way out of.

My experience with traditional RC planes is anything liquid fueled is audible for at least half a mile unless you go to some effort, but electric assist gliders, although huge and highly visible, are nearly inaudible maybe 10 feet away unless you're doing something dumb (running the prop tips supersonic to get more thrust, etc). A glider would also have much better range. Lets just say you should be wearing hearing protection when tuning a 0.40 sized RC airplane engine without a muffler, and probably while a muffler is installed too. Its a lot louder than you'd expect based on experience with yard work equipment (other than a chainsaw... A chainsaw is a pretty good comparison...)

My multicopter sounds like a weedwhacker in operation, and I can easily hear the 5volt beeper go off 30 feet away when the battery voltage drops too low. I donno maybe 50 feet away you wouldn't notice it? This is a 210mm sub 250g build, I'm sure a monster sized aircraft has monster sized noise to match.

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