Roswell Flight Test Crew

Vote Rich Hanson for AMA President!

It is my great pleasure and privilege to endorse Rich Hanson to become the next president of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and I strongly urge all of the fans and friends of the Roswell Flight Test Crew to give him your support in the election now underway, along with other proponents of safe and responsible drone operations and model aviation enthusiasts everywhere.

After shepherding model aviation through 80 years of safe and responsible flying through myriad innovations: radio-controlled flight, helicopters, turbine-powered models and now FPV flying and drones, it is time for the AMA to return to its roots. The AMA is not just the world's largest model airplane club: it was established to educate the young people coming of age at precisely the moment manned aviation was becoming mainstream.

Now, we face a second great revolution in the air – this one ushered in by Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

Once again, we need to inspire a generation of young people to prepare for careers in this new industry, which will create many thousands of new, high-paying jobs and contribute billions of dollars to the economy in the decades ahead. The AMA is uniquely positioned to take up this challenge, and there is simply no one better qualified than Rich Hanson to lead the AMA through this pivotal moment in its history.

As the AMA's Government and Regulatory Affairs Director, Rich as worked hand-in-hand with the FAA and Congress for more than a decade, doing more than anyone else to ensure that model aviation is protected from burdensome regulation by establishing the Special Rule for Model Aircraft.

He has also held numerous other leadership posts within the AMA, and has had a long and successful career in public service outside the organization, giving him the depth and breadth of experience necessary to manage a large organization through a period of challenging changes. In addition, he is a lifelong aviator with more than 7,000 hours in manned fixed-wing and rotorcraft platforms, including flying combat missions in Cobra gunship while deployed in Vietnam.

It has been my privilege to work closely with Rich over the past several years, and I can say beyond any conceivable doubt that he simply “gets it.” He understands that drones have irrevocably altered the trajectory of model aviation and is prepared to guide the organization so that it reflects and supports this new reality. I am genuinely excited to see the innovations that will come from the organization under his leadership.

So, this fall, please join me in voting for Rich Hanson for president of the AMA!

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Yuneec Breeze at InterDrone

 

It has always seemed to me that consumer drone marketplace is divided (broadly) into two categories: low-cost platforms intended for the beginner built by companies such as Hubsan and Syma, and professional platforms built by Yuneec, DJI and Autel and the like.

I've always wondered what would happen if one of the big companies built a small, low-cost drone. Well, it looks like we're about to find out, with the Yuneec Breeze. It's got big drone features – like infrared altitude hold, optical flow and GPS – but in a small drone body controlled with a smart phone. It should fly very well – I'm hoping we'll have the opportunity to find out for ourselves soon – and while it isn't exactly “cheap” at $499, it should open the market to another tier of first-time pilots.

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Eachine Goggles One

 

Techinstein got his hands on the Eachine Goggles One before I did, when he sat down to do the laboratory portion of this video, and he raved about them. In spite of that, I confess I was still a bit dubious. I knew that they cost $150 on Banggood, so I wondered if they could really be that good.

That skepticism melted away in short order when I tried them on myself for my first-ever FPV flying experience. Obviously, we stuck the lens of our camera into the goggles to give you my perspective, but that doesn't do the experience justice.

It really transformed the whole feeling of flying for me. The colors were so vivid and with the magnified HD screen filling basically my entire field of view, it really took FPV to a whole new level. Of course, flying by video with LightBridge or similar systems does create some latency, meaning what you are seeing in the goggles already happened in real life, making proximity flying especially perilous.

So, if you're going to give this a try yourself, remember that having a spotter isn't just the law – it's also a good idea.

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Yuneec Typhoon H

 

For me, personally, the Typhoon H started out with a bit of an advantage: it's a hexacopter, and I'm a big fan of hexacopters, for reasons both personal and professional. Our home-built flagship – RQCX-3 “Raven,” now largely retired but still our first choice for certain mission profiles – is a hexacopter, and she proved utterly reliable during several years of flying through some of the most challenging and perilous conditions you could ever hope to imagine.

Also, I like the redundancy that comes from having six rotors. Even without the sort of clever flight logic Yuneec built into the Typhoon H, a hex can in theory keep flying if it loses a single motor, ESC or propeller. Also, hexacopters can lift a heavier maximum payload than a comparable quadcopter, and I do like powerful aircraft.

And, finally, I think hexacopters just fly better... You're giving the flight controller 50 percent more points of thrust to work with, so it just makes sense that it's able to deliver more stable, fluid flight when compared with a quadcopter.

So, I'm excited to see a mass market camera drone arrive that is something other than a quad, and Yuneec certainly seems to have taken full advantage of the opportunity, adding retractable landing struts, a collision avoidance system, an upgraded 4K camera – and even more to come.

It still flies like a Yuneec: at a very stately, deliberate pace. It packs more speed and power than the earlier Q500, but still not enough to really tear up the sky – which isn't necessarily a quality you want in a camera ship. Smooth and steady is preferred flight mode for that mission profile, and the Typhoon H delivers it in spades.

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Autel Robotics X-Star Premium

 

As you can probably tell from this video, I like the X-Star Premium from Autel Robotics. To be sure, apart from the color, it closely resembles a lot of other small aerial video quads on the market today – but the color itself is a visible marker of what's happening under the hood.

The designers have obviously put a lot of thought into the details, with the goal of creating an intuitive, pilot-friendly system... And, to be frank, it's good that they did: big players like DJI and Yuneec are increasingly coming to dominate the market, so for anyone to break in at this late date, they're going to have to put in a little more effort in order to compete – and I believe that Autel has delivered.

I wrote a 3,800-word review of the X-Star in the issue of Drones magazine on newsstands now, so I'll let you read my in depth coverage there, if you want to know more.

Since the drone itself was released, the company has made a unique offer to support the professional development of the industry. If you're an X-Star owner, and you take (and pass) your Part 107 Remote Pilot in Command test, they will reimburse your testing fees, up to $150. Take them up on that offer – it's not one you're likely to see again any time soon.

Finally, Autel is located just up the road from us in Bothell, Washington – a suburb of Seattle – so I'm hoping that we'll have the opportunity to visit them in their native environment at some point, to see what they've got in the pipeline. Stay tuned for that...

Also, let me know what you think of my digital alter-ego, Max Hexrotor. I'm certainly dating myself with that cultural reference, but I'm dying to know what you think! Also, enormous thanks go out to Seattle filmmaker and effects artist Wing Flannigan for all of his hard work bringing Max to life. Love it or hate it, you certainly have to agree that Wing captured the rhythms of the original Max Headroom perfectly!

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Flying at the Drones Data X VIP Weekend

 

To me, this video sums up the experience of attending the VIP weekend at Drones Data X – thanks very much to Damien Doyle and the team at Copter Shop Ireland, who hosted us in Santa Cruz. It was the sort of time you just don't get at any other conference: spending time with the leaders of the drone industry in a relaxed, comfortable setting – where you can get to know them a little bit outside of “business as usual.”

Attendees at the weekend had the opportunity to learn how to surf or go stand-up paddle boarding, mountain biking or learn wilderness survival skills. Along with a few other stalwarts - I'm looking at you, Romeo Durscher, Damien Doyle and Kenji Sugahara - I chose to spend my weekend on the California coast flying drones – specifically our DJI Inspire One. You never see it in this video, but it is, of course, painted yellow. I'd like to extend special thanks to Kenji Sugahara for sharing his aerial video with us, which you see woven into this episode along with my own.

If you want to know more, much more, about the Drones Data X conference, I wrote a whole article about it in the issue of Drones magazine on newsstands now. Check it out!

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: 8 Pitches, 4 Minutes, 1 Winner

 

I liked the idea behind “Start-Up Alley” at the Drones Data X conference. As I recall, there was something similar at InterDrone last year, with participants dropping poker chips into fish bowls at each booth to determine the winner. I must confess: I kept the poker chips as souvenirs rather than using them for their intended purpose.

Anyway, this wasn't exactly the same thing, because the winner was determined by its sponsor: contract manufacturing giant Jabil and the winner was invited to drive down to Santa Cruz to participate in the VIP weekend that very evening – so an immediate pay off.

I certainly thought it was interesting to hear from these folks – and I was especially intrigued by the low-cost ROVs, taking the design philosophy of drones over the past few years and applying it to the underwater world. However, I was also curious to hear what you, dear audience, thought of this format: giving representatives of multiple companies just a few seconds each to pitch their product or service in a single video.

Don't worry, I don't see us forsaking the more traditional trade show interview to the exclusion of this format anytime soon, but I was curious if you enjoyed this new format and would like to see more of it. Let me know...

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Snap Drone from Vantage Robotics

 

This was a hard video to prepare for upload onto YouTube, specifically coming up with a title to accurately and evocatively describe the sweet little Snap drone from Vantage Robotics. For many years, I believed that the title of an online video was merely one more opportunity to optimize it to be found by search algorithms.

After several years of very banal and lengthy titles (sorry everybody – my bad!), a social media pro told me that the titles should actually be written for humans and should be short enough that they don't get cut off for users on mobile devices. So, from that day forward, I've done my best to produce click-bait: short and arresting.

The problem with writing a title for the Snap is there is so much cool stuff: that tiny 4K camera gimbal, the fact that the rotors pull off and fold up so quick it almost seems like a magic trick, the idea that it can be customized for different missions and environments by mounting different rotor sets, it's completely safe around people, you can control it with a smart device or DSM radio...

The list literally goes on and on and on and on – way too much for a click-bait-ey video title on YouTube. Anyway, I did my best. I suspect if this video tallies up a lot of hits it will be because this is such a cool drone, not because I'm a genius at crafting irresistible titles.

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Alta Devices from Drones Data X

 

Continuing our much-delayed coverage of the Drones Data X Conference in San Francisco, we're hearing from Alta Devices, manufacturer of the most efficient solar cell in the world – which also happens to be extremely lightweight and flexible. This makes it useful for a range of applications, but most relevant among them for this conference: substantially boosting the flying time of fixed-wing UAS by turning the surface of their wings into a power source. Pretty cool!

-Lucidity

 

POSTING VIDEO: Velodyne LiDAR at Drones Data X

 

Drones Data X was a very interesting conference: it took a larger view of the concept (and the potential) of drones as we recognize them today. First of all, as you'll see in an upcoming video from the conference, it included submersible systems and a number of other applications I haven't seen at other conventions.

It also took a more expansive view of the subject matter – including technology that might be just a little bit over the horizon in terms of its applications. Velodyne LiDAR is a prime example. As you heard from Cameron Gieda in our video, the primary application of their systems over the next few years will be in autonomous cars. However, there can be no doubt it could be enormously valuable carried beneath a drone. I'm guessing in that in a few years that we'll see technology like LiDAR the way we see thermal imaging and photogrammetery today.

By the way, it might have occurred to you that the Drones Data X conference was in early June and we're posting the videos in late August. There is a reason: in a freak grocery-shopping accident (I'm not making this up) our video editor sustained a very serious concussion that she has yet to fully recover from. Consequently, it took much longer than usual to get these videos turned around. Still, I hope you enjoy them!

-Lucidity