Longest Flight time

[stay-fun]

Hm yeah that's what I thought/meant: a gear trades off speed for torque, you can accomplish the same with going to a lower kV motor, keeping the other specs the same.

 

[Murocflyer]

Hm yeah that's what I thought/meant: a gear trades off speed for torque, you can accomplish the same with going to a lower kV motor, keeping the other specs the same.

But you are not going to find a low enough KV motor unless it is custom wound. I have done a lot of research on long duration flights and could not get a long enough flight without using a gearbox.

Plug the numbers in here to compare the motors. http://rcwebclub.com/PropEngine.aspx divide the gear ratio by the motor KV to keep the results equal. It's a fun way to learn and compare the differences.

Frank

 

[nerdnic]

I can get 22min out of a 2000mah 3S with my 800mm Spitfire flying around at 30% throttle.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I got almost 14 minutes out of my One Sheet Swappable Trainer with a 2200mah 3S battery and I was flying at full throttle most of the time. If I got better at flying it I may be able to squeeze 20+ minutes out of it. But I had a high wing loading. An hour is probably a great, achievable goal. But flying around for an hour at a very low speed with very gentle turns sounds boring.

 

[demon646]

14:35 FT Spitfire

My longest time with my $10 2200mAh on with the FT Spitfire is 14min, 35 seconds. I was actually trying to keep the throttle open most of the time to find out what the shortest flight time would be. I got a new low voltage alarm and it didn't go off for a while.

I bet I could almost double the flight time if I were to take it real easy I have no idea really. I guess I'll get a lawn chair out and time it!

 

[joshuabardwell]

Fair enough, but when is a plane a glider and when is it not? At a certain wing loading? Wing span vs weight?

Plane must have a wing loading of at least 15 oz / sq.ft. Or pick another number if you like it better.

 

[Grenadapult]

As we can see by many of the previos statements "longest flight" is pretty open ended. Narrowing down the battery is a good start, but still, a HUGE amount will come down to flight style. I tried to max my flight time on my odl twin boom. after 30 minutes, it was miserable. A blue sky, with a single plane, flying in straight lines. At that point, it becomes as much about the stamina of the pilot, as it does about motor/prop/battery/airframe cominations. Now that I have an Ardupilot, i'm more interested in it than ever! It can maintain the stable, gentle flight needed to stay aloft long term, and I don't have to stare at the sky beyond my own A.D.D. limits. LOL! I know some of the guys at DIY Drones have dabbled with gliding, but I want to see how long a non-exotic airframe can stay aloft under power. There was a guy at Flite Fest with a twin engine profile seaplane. (CraftyDan, which vendor was that next to the build tent?) He had a BIG plane, with blue wonder motors. I asked him about flight time, and he had estimated about AN HOUR! He said he only flew about 15 minutes at a time, but could do that 4 times without recharging. LOL!

Is THAT the original spirit of this concept?

I do think distance and time need to be kept separate though. While not gliding, there is still a huge difference between going really far, and staying in the air a very long time. I have seen some slow poke undercambered planes that fly on little more than a breath. BUt I have also seen some relatively fast planes with very impressive glide rates.