Fixed Wing/Multirotor Parachute

On a scale of 1-5, how useful do you think a parachute like this would be?

  • Not Useful at all

  • Not very useful

  • A little useful

  • Useful

  • Very Useful


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Aerosaka

New member
I am currently in an engineering class where me and my team need to come up with an idea and develop it through the engineering process. I am posting this to see how the people of this community would feel about our idea.

So our teams idea is a parachute pack that can be attached to both multirotors or fixed wing planes while costing less than $100. We see other multirotor parachutes on the market, but they are usually designed for one particular model, and/or are hundreds of dollars. What we want to do is develop a low cost,versatile and easy to use parachute that could save your multirotor/fixed wing from an unfortunate demise.
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Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
This particular idea has been researched by many and in this case I think this is the second or duplicate post with almost the exact wording.

As for a one parachute fits all the real issues are;

Weight: For small models around 1KG any unnecessary weight is severely detrimental to the performance of the plane or model. A parachute which is capable of returning a 10KG model to earth safely will weight far too much to be used on a lightweight model. Conversely a parachute designed to return a 1KG model to earth safely will do little more than slow the crash of a heavier model slightly.

Model structure: This is one area where previous attempts for one size fits all have failed. When a parachute delopys there is a sudden application of retardation/braking forces which try to reduce the speed of the aircraft immediately to the final terminal velocity, (10 to 20 KPH). Unless the attachment points for the 'chute are stressed or designed to take the sudden shock loading repeatedly the deployment of the 'chute can cause an almost instant midair breakup of the plane, (normally at high speed, especially if OOC in a power on vertical dive).

Added complexity: The addition of another selectable function especially for a newbie could lead to confusion for some and even unwanted or false deployments, (even on the ground).

Deployment and recovery problems: Automatic or manual? Apart from the obvious inappropriate and premature deployment of the 'chute there is the issue of the plane under the deployed 'chute drifting in the ambient conditions. If the wind is blowing out over the lake or ocean crash damage might be seen as better than a full immersion or total loss. Where flying fields are ringed by trees the deployed 'chute is more likely to get and remain hung up in the top of a tree than a model under power which might be shredded but the pieces find their way to the ground earlier and allow for the plane to be repaired, rebuilt, or replaced using the original electronics. Waiting for years for a 'chute to rot and disintegrate and thereby release whats left of the plane is not something to look forward to.

Economics: The simple matter of adding a $100 addition of dubious value to a plane that may have cost as little as $100 electronics included does not make sense. A range of 'chutes for load deployment would be seen as a possible requirement for some users but a ballistic recovery parachute for model aircraft has a massive series of issues and problems many of which involve human input and may remain unresolved in the long term.

Just my opinion, based upon my previous research and the research of others!

Have fun