Ideas and insight needed!!!!

nickschaos81

Junior Member
Hey guys I live in Great Falls montana and have one of our area schools wanting to use something rc for doing experiments. They usually use balloons but wanted me to build a quad or hex to lift things like gas sensors , gps thingies etc. and they wanted to possibly film parts of football games at the highschool. They want to be able to fly upwards of 2000FT!!!! They are aware that they have to have approval to go above 400ft and would be working with the same faa group that approves their weather balloon launches. With that being said , i felt that an airplane would be a better idea because of how much longer it could stay in the air and its lack of free falling to the ground if battery dies. ( all expermients will be way way way out of town, but still safety) So what are you guys thoughts? or do you guys think a multirotor would still be better?

I was thinking something like the guinee .... or maybe a fowl flyer, It will be a science plane lol.
what ever it is it needs to carry an aurdino and sensors, be safe, cheap is a plus. they will have to do fpv gear for the APPROVED higher flights (im also thinking an airplane would go over easier then a multirotor right now, especially with all the bad press they are getting)

Any way thanks in advance guys !
 

razor02097

Rogue Drone Pilot
A plane would also get my vote... Not only do you gain a glide slope in the event of failure but it is much cheaper to build.

With the money you would save building a plane you could get a flight controller such as a vector so you get your altitude, attitude, location, speed, and other such that would be useful for experiments. Plus you get stabilization and auto level as well as you could set a return to home so if something does go wrong or you lose orientation you can have a failsafe. Very important when flying really far up or away.
 

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
Definitely build a plane. It doesn't need to be able to fly vertical, or have "unlimited vertical". But if they are talking about heights of 2000feet, then you would want it nicely powered so you can climb at a faster rate. I don't know the room you'll have for a flying area, but you can still climb rather quickly in a small space with a good climbing pattern.

I suggest reading this thread if you have the time: http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?12470-Research-based-aircraft