Parachute idea with a twist

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
True, but the release would be a lot more complicated. The Josh's, should do a show where they try this one in a few different variations and revisit the quadcopter lift as well.


They could make it release from the plane side then...
 

Klonas

Senior Member
I've made a "prototype" just to see if my parachute could slow down the plane enough to not crash.
DSC03151.JPG
It looks very ugly. But just for proof of concept. It's positioned near the CG a bit back though so it wouldn't entirely fall flat and possibly tip-stall. As a release I used a bomb drop mechanism. Haven't tested it out on the field yet because the weather is very bad...
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
How big is your chute, Klonas? I'd say you would need a pretty big chute for that plane... I'd say 2x2 meters.
 

Klonas

Senior Member
Hehe :D Not that big. If fully stretched about a 1.5x0.5 meter. I chose this plane because I don't have a 200g profile foamie and because this plane is a very good floater. It can fly flat down(and land... It's a bit rough though) with full elevator without changing the CG.So it doesn't need a lot of slowing down... Also the plane is about 1x1meters.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Well then, good luck! Oh, and get video if you can!

BTW Do you have the chute let go servo as well? or only the release?
 

Klonas

Senior Member
Oh the weather outside is frightful....

LOL OK foolproof flying :)

How's your weather? When are you planning to try this?
It's very cold, very snowy and very wet....
Not the best time for flying. I'm thinking probably next weekend or so, I'll try if the weather doesn't play dirty :)
 

Klonas

Senior Member
So I went flying today and got to try the parachute. The design needs work because it doesn't deploy quickly enough. But the idea is good. It did slow the plane down. Im editing a video of my flight now.

Edit: Would it be bad for a plane if it lands in snow? :D
 

gurcsik

Junior Member
oh very nice! im eager to see it.


this all got me thinking about how i could place separate parachutes inside some of my model rockets so i browsed around and picked up a pack of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EMR3ZU/ref=oh_o02_s01_i01_details

they are just small enough to fit into a 25mm tube and have a great, solid density to them to fall relatively quickly. and plus, if i lose it, they price to only $.50 each so no harm done! just looking for a calm-wind day to send them up. i was also thinking they would work great in a bomb bay hatch like mikeysrc designed. You would probably be able to fit all 12 in something like that.
 

Klonas

Senior Member
So here's the video.
I should mention that there were strong gusts so I wasn't able to fly very stable. Also first 3 flights were unsuccesful, the parachute either didn't deploy or deployed when I wasn't expecting. 4th flight was the best but you can't see the landing very well on the camera. It was quite dark...
 

ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
It seems to be more of a challenge to make the parachute deploy the way you want it.

I guess that will have to have a closer look at when you will deploy the parachute. Or even better at which position related to the ground your plane is so that the parachute can only deploy correctly, if you know what I mean.
 

Klonas

Senior Member
If the flitetest guys would want to do a challenge episode I could tell them some tips and what not to do.


Also to make the parachute better I'd need some bigger rubber bands because these ones somehow get tangled in and not release the chute. The 2nd thing is maybe a piece of paper or something that would cause drag, I'd attach that to the top of the chute and it would help deploying it quicker
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
Like a drogue chute on a real parachute. I think it would help a lot. I also think that because your plane flies relatively slow, there's not much air moving by the chute to pop the canopy open quickly. The drogue chute might help.
 

ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
If the flitetest guys would want to do a challenge episode I could tell them some tips and what not to do.


Also to make the parachute better I'd need some bigger rubber bands because these ones somehow get tangled in and not release the chute. The 2nd thing is maybe a piece of paper or something that would cause drag, I'd attach that to the top of the chute and it would help deploying it quicker
The idea with the drag brought something into my mind.
Because you only want the drag to be there when you want to deploy the parachute, so what you could do is attach to a servo a piece of paper that would actually fold out, cause drag and pull the parachute with it.
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
The idea with the drag brought something into my mind.
Because you only want the drag to be there when you want to deploy the parachute, so what you could do is attach to a servo a piece of paper that would actually fold out, cause drag and pull the parachute with it.

Are you talking about a detachable piece of paper with a servo release? I was thinking of one of those small light pharmacy toy parachutes that will open faster and help deploy the main chute.