Out Of Sight

[Jumpjet]

I just started a few weeks ago with FPV and it's fun. Check out a couple of my videos on You Tube:

Day flight with range test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEmp49jHdA4

Trying to get use to night flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivgOf49jVPA

Crash during an FPV flight due to lockout - only broke a skid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sot0vCkPHiU

[bullaculla]

Now that was pretty damn cool! :D
but the night flying just didn't look safe at all. ;)

Edit:
just watched the 3rd video man, that was crazy! at 1:24 you had a lockout, or did it just go out of range?

What kind of wireless camera are you using?

[Jumpjet]

I'm using a 500mw 900mhz setup from Hobby Wireless. The video feed breaks up a little bit when close to the ground but it's not to bad in the air.

[WillJames]

I just started a few weeks ago with FPV and it's fun. Check out a couple of my videos on You Tube:

Day flight with range test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEmp49jHdA4

Trying to get use to night flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivgOf49jVPA

Crash during an FPV flight due to lockout - only broke a skid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sot0vCkPHiU

Pretty interesting!! Thanks for sharing.

[Jumpjet]

I've wondered the same - however, I've tried flying the sim in cockpit view and have to say I don't believe it's possible. It's just too hard to fly without being able to see the main rotor disk and the tail orientation.

To do it, IMO, you'd need a heli setup with a couple more gyros to keep stable. (Fixed pitch possibly might work?)

It's possible, check my videos out at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Jumpjet101
I'm not using any special setup or any additional gyros.

[Windbreaker]

I played around with a G3 simulator in cockpit view mode and was able to land it after some practice.

If pilots can do it with real helicopters then there's no reason why virtual pilots can't do it with remotely piloted ones. A friend who is an Army squadron commander flies with NVG's. That cuts peripheral vision quite severely.

The difference is training. Lots of training.

BTW, I started playing with RC helicopters for a month now, so I have very little experience at this. If I were to fly FPV I'd have to spend a lot of time on the simulator and/or find a very large field to play in.

One of the things that might throw someone trying FPV flight is the seemingly reversed behavior of artificial horizon instruments: when you see the horizon tilting to the left, that means the aircraft is rolling to the right. A little confusing at first. But with enough practice it becomes second nature. I had a few hours doing IFR training so it's normal to me.

Flying FPV is just like using an artificial horizon.

Other instruments would be helpful: Precise AGL altimeter. Airspeed or forward motion. Someone mounted a little wide-angle mirror on an extension in front of his helicopter to give him a look straight down for landing and hovering.

http://www.fpvvideo.com/fpv_helicopter.htm

[ron gill]

of course its possible. however the training for it and the time and expensive equ...hung in the air, im not sure that i could deal with it to well!!!!!!:arggg:!!!!!!.
if a client approched me with this in mind id have to tell them to fork over about a twenty thousand dollor retainer (in cash)haha:thumbup:.

a friend of mine put a downlink on a rc car and harrased the whole neiborhood with it !!!!!!!! it was great, hed be in his shop and the car a half mile away
knocking on strange doors, it was a riot:lol: it lasted till one of the kids at a strange
house wisend up and started sneeking up behind it and turned it over!!! haha bravo kid!! in the end he spent more time looking for it than it was worth and never saw it again...hahahahha


ron

[Jumpjet]

Well it's not that expensive but I see your point. It does take a little adjusting to get use to flying that way but once you get the hang of it, it's FUN! Atleast until you crash. I don't plan on terrorizing the neighborhood because of the risk but atleast with an RC car, you don't have to worry about falling out of the sky when you go out of range.

After looking at a few FPV videos on YouTube, there are quite a few people that have them on airplanes and I can see why. Atleast wwith an airplance, when you go out of range, you can have the failsafe set to turn around and glide back into range. With a helicopter, you just fall out of the sky and hope that you fall back into range enough where you can atleast autorotate it. I may even get an airplane and move my system over for this reason. It's sad seeing a big dollar sign just falling out of the sky and you can't do anything about it.