GH2 in a Hexakopter

For folks who have not R/C'd before, most of the issues are 'situational awareness' types of things. It's as much a talent as a skill, and even if you have the talent it takes a while to develop the skill. There are lots of little things to consider, like knowing how to reverse controls when you reverse direction of flight, etc. It has to be absolutely natural to you -- if you have to stop and think, you're screwed. Some people can pick up a guitar and make awesome music, some can't no matter how hard they try. Guys like Robbie are rock stars.....
Yes, I'm sure the FAA would have a prob with a lot of the shots out right now if any enforcement was in effect. One of the major networks hired a guy to fly down some railroad tracks recently, and the entire process was splashed all over the front page of their web site. I'm sure millions of eyeballs saw it, not a squeak from the FAA. I really don't think they quite know what to do, so they have formed a committee.
A forum called RC Universe has a section dedicated to FPV flying, you can check out: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10519545 . Some of these guys are doing some pretty extreme things, like cloud-surfing and stuff. I love the low-slow work and am trying to get good enough to do it, but I think some of the extreme stuff might be unwise. A friend of mine flies medical helicopters and he almost sucked someone's R/C not long ago, he was not happy. When I see guys flying 1200 AGL, 4.5 miles downrange at night, I think.....ewww.
 
Last week I went to practice my straight line flying skills. I went to a location in the woods, which to my relief was more wide than I remembered it. There is a very small hill there, where once a wind mill stood. I was so stupid to take off from ground level and my Hexa XL went up very quickly. I still have to get used (and be aware) of the very sensitive reactions to the stick movements... The Hexa came down quickly because of my responses and touched the ground again on the other side of the hill where I could hardly see it anymore. I took it down and shut it down, but it tipped over.

For the second lift off I put the Hexa on the hill ("platform") and the flight itself was OK. However, the camera mount had become damaged: I couldn't nick the camera anymore. It would keep moving when facing downwards. I had not seen any (further) damage after the first crash.

After I had landed it safely, I took off for the third time and then I had the Hexa almost immediately hit the trees. It came down, jumped up quite some meters in the air again and then fell down. Now I could see it had lost one of it legs.

I had my Contour GPS attached to the Hexa all the time, so you can experience these crashes from the Hexa's point of view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9PqT6-D_4

http://www.youtube.com/user/zestienvijftig

I also recorded a video of the place itself from a GH1 on a tripod on the table that was there. Unfortunately, that video is 15:44 long and it won't be shown on my YouTube account.

If anyone knows an easy way to get this video to be shown, please let me know. I do not feel much like uploading it (almost) all again, which took several hours.

I hope to have my Hexa repaired by this weekend. It's too bad I had it crash, because I wanted to record some nice videos last week. Life ain't over yet.
 
Just edit down the video. Nobody wants to watch 10 minutes much less 15. Just make a highlight video that lasts 3 minutes and you're good to go!
 
The FAA position is outlined in http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6287, they indicate that their decision is due in 2015. Like I said -- there is no enforcement anywhere, and I am practicing like crazy in hopes that some day I might get good enough to do this for real. At some point, the real estate market is going to come back around....
My plan, if all else fails, is to fly with a very long, very fine fishing line attached. If I can in fact fly that way, I won't be an 'aircraft,' I'll be an electrically powered kite.
 
Hey guys, this is a fascinating thread. Where can I get basic information to get up to speed on using heliocopters for cameras?
 
Am I the only one that finds it disturbing (maybe too strong a word here) that several have posted "first flights" with cameras attached?

If I were to get one of these (and I am thinking about it) it would make sense to me that I would have flying it, sans camera, down pat before outfitting it with one and having both destroyed on a maiden flight.

But that is just me.
 
Hey Jeff those are really nice shots! Are you controlling the angle of the camera with servos, or is it stationary. All the shots look really stable too. Can you share photos of your rig?
 
You can get autopilot systems that all but compensate for a catastrophic mechanical failure. They're not cheap though. Some of the 4-blade systems run $20k to $30k yowser!
 
The first time I flew my Hexa XL it was with camera attached

The first time I flew my Hexa XL it was with camera attached

Crafters of Light said:
Am I the only one that finds it disturbing (maybe too strong a word here) that several have posted "first flights" with cameras attached?

If I were to get one of these (and I am thinking about it) it would make sense to me that I would have flying it, sans camera, down pat before outfitting it with one and having both destroyed on a maiden flight.

But that is just me.
Click to expand...

I surely can understand your confusion. But my first independent flight was actually with a camera attached, a Contour GPS action camera. As you can read, I had a short instruction earlier that day when I collected my Hexa. When I was on a nice spot later that day, I first attached the Contour GPS to the camera mount and had a go to see if I could take off and land the Hexa without problems. Then I made my first "real" flight. You can see it all on the video. After that, I attached a GH1 to the camera mount and made a similar flight at the same spot. Again, a video shows the view from the flight itself.

On the second day I went to practice flying, I also first attached the Contour GPS camera. If anything would go wrong, it would be less of a loss than a GH1 with a lens attached. On the same spot I had a GH1 aside to record the ground view. Unfortunately, then, I had my Hexa tip over to have my first small crash, but it did damage the camera mount. The second flight was quite OK. The third take off soon lead to the second crash, after which one leg had broken. The Contour GPS camera turned out not to have any damage. So, it may depend on what kind of camera you attach to decide if you should do that or could risk it with little flying experience. Of course, the camera mount got damaged. It is possible to fly the Hexa with a Contour GPS attached it and without a camera mount, but I had it with it and, of course, would not have been able to record the GH1 video before. And that is just why I bought the whole, complete, thing. Also, with the camera mount attached, the camera is stablized.

But you could (and perhaps should...) fly without any other devices attached but only a small action camera that can survive any crash or would not be a great loss if it would get killed.
 
I would surely pick GH13 for areal shots, THIS if any situation is where you want to enjoy extreme bitrates (especially thinking about the wakeboard shots). Rolling shutter is identical, so no loss in that matter (plus, really nice 720p, unlike GH2).

...and GH1 is 40% of the GH2 price, so if you crash your stuff about the stuff... it's less of a loss ;)
 
Chadfish said:
Hey Jeff those are really nice shots! Are you controlling the angle of the camera with servos, or is it stationary. All the shots look really stable too. Can you share photos of your rig?
Click to expand...

I am using tilt which I can control remotely. With dynamic action front and center you really don't need much stabilization, especially on the overcrank footage.
I do use Mercalli on CS5 for stabilization when needed (when the eye goes to the horizon/background)
Should have more info on this platform in the next couple weeks.

Cheers,
Jeff
 
A smaller camera that doesn't brick instead of one that still needs a lens

A smaller camera that doesn't brick instead of one that still needs a lens

Martin Oller said:
...and GH1 is 40% of the GH2 price, so if you crash your stuff about the stuff... it's less of a loss ;)
Click to expand...

But this GH1 still needs a lens and the Contour (GPS), which is about the same price, doesn't. Also, the Contour camera does survive this kind of crashes, is my experience.

Yes, I had yet another crash... Oh my god!

I went to get my repaired Hexa XL on Saturday afternoon. Just the day before, it had been fixed and that morning it was tested OK. I went to a spot nearby where I knew at least I had space to fly it. It was windy that day and I only had the Hexa on Altitude Hold. It seemed to run off. When I lost good sight of it, I decided to put the Coming Home feature on. But it didn't seem to me that that was working. I tried to fly it back myself. Then I saw something fall from the Hexa. I thought that would be the Contour camera. Next thing that happened is that the Hexa dives after it and crashes. On the way to the spot I come across the LiPo battery pack. The Hexa itself is damaged, lost two propellers and the hood showed the electronics did have a shock this time. The camera mount was damaged as well, lost now, but the Contour GPS was still on it and actually still recording.

What I was afraid of, turned out to be true: I had forgotten to lock the battery pack in the holder. It can be seen in the preparation video after I insert it. The Coming Home functionality did actually work, which can be seen from the GPS track. Always having any device recording these flights turns out to be helpful in analysing what went wrong and what did function. It's a costy experience. The mistake I made may not have been that bad, but the worst thing may been caused by me panicing and trying to fly the Hexa back manually. If I hadn't done that, the battery pack might not have fallen out and the Hexa would have returned safely to where I had it take off...

Setup/preparation video before the actual flight (groundview):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAgAUTjxFE0

You may see the velcro ("tape") parts that I should have connected, but didn't.

Groundview of the actual flight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZOB0SSAcM

The Hexa will appear very small eventually. On full size you can see it drop, but I couldn't see the battery pack like I did myself directly when it happened.

Contour GPS onboad POV video and GPS track:

http://contour.com/stories/my-second-hexa-xl-crash-pov

I don't know why the Hexa started turning around after take off. As far as I can tell, I didn't tell it to.

Either enjoy or learn from these videos, or both.

I hope to have it repaired quickly but keeping it that way longer now...

 
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It seems you need to practice on a simulator more before you go out again. And then just practice flying before you try to attach a camera. Nobody just buys a quad and starts flying. You have to practice just getting 3 inches off the ground and moving left and right etc. Slow down!
 
Simulators are good -- the Bell Medivac helicopter in the flight sim is heavy and flies a lot like a quad with a camera on board. I also fly in my studio when I have time -- I put a road case in the middle of the floor, pick up from that, fly around light stands, and (try to) land back on the case - it is great practice for controlling oscillations. I use folding blades in case I clip something, which is pretty common.
 
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